As it stands right now, individual states are free to prohibit or practice gambling within their borders while significant regulations and limits are put on interstate which activity. In recent years, online video gaming has seen harsher restrictions. With the Unlawful Web Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIEGA), it had been not explicitly banned but rather it had been online financial transactions which were outlawed. This meant that all online financial dealings from gambling providers were now illegal which led to countless offshore gambling operators excluding US clients from their services.
Existing in this legitimate grey area, it is no more a problem of if online gambling will get into the US market but when and perhaps how. As lately as this month, three claims have legalized online gambling and plan to begin offering bets by the end of this year. Naturally, a gaming organization in Las Vegas referred to as Ultimate Gaming was the first ever to offer online poker but also for now restricting it to just players in Nevada. NJ and Delaware also have legalized online gambling therefore far ten other states are thinking about legalizing it in some form or another.
Frank Fahrenkopf, president of the American Gambling Association has said that “Unless there exists a federal bill passed, we are going to have the greatest expansion of legalized gambling in the usa. I don’t think that’s what anyone intended, but it is what we’re discovering.” This poses plenty of questions not to mention concerns for most existing commercial casinos and also American policy makers. Will legal online gambling mean fewer persons in offline casinos? Will this develop a new source of revenue at the state and national level? Think about taxes and regulations? A rise in gamblers?
Many people including Arnie Wexler, former chairman of New Jersey’s Council On Compulsive Gambling possesses voiced concern that with the good this could do to create income and revenue for unique states there may be problems with an increase in compulsive gambling . There’s particular concern regarding social media in the US as some spots like Zynga have already begun taking real-money bets.
Taking in mind the questions and concerns, many hotel casinos are already making strategies to extend into online gambling to complement their actual physical casinos. Geoffrey Stewart, general office manager of Caesars INTERNET POKER has said “Like any business, you’re always looking for what is the next distribution channel.”