As it stands right now, individual states are free to prohibit or practice gambling within their borders while significant restrictions and limits are placed on interstate which activity. In recent years, online video gaming has seen harsher rules. With grabwin Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIEGA), it had been not explicitly banned but instead it was online financial transactions that were outlawed. This meant that online financial transactions from gambling service providers were now illegal which led to various offshore gambling operators excluding US customers from their services.
Existing in this legal grey area, it is no more a question of if online gambling will key in the US market but when and perhaps how. As lately as this month, three states own legalized online gambling and intend to begin offering bets by the end of this year. Naturally, a gaming firm in Las Vegas known as Ultimate Gaming was the first to offer online poker but also for now restricting it to sole players in Nevada. New Jersey and Delaware have also legalized online gambling therefore far ten other states are thinking about legalizing it in a few form or another.
Frank Fahrenkopf, president of the American Game playing Association has stated that “Unless there is a federal bill passed, we are going to have the best expansion of legalized gambling in america. I don’t believe that’s what anyone intended, nonetheless it is what we’re finding.” This poses a great deal of questions and of course concerns for most existing commercial casinos and American policy makers. Will legal online gambling mean fewer persons in brick and mortar casinos? Will this create a new source of revenue at the state and national level? Think about taxes and regulations? An increase in gamblers?
Many people including Arnie Wexler, previous chairman of New Jersey’s Council On Compulsive Gambling has voiced concern that with the good this could do to generate income and revenue for individual states there could be problems with a rise in compulsive gambling. There’s particular concern regarding social media in america as some locations like Zynga have previously begun taking real-money bets.
Taking in mind the questions and concerns, many hotel casinos are already making strategies to expand into online gambling to check their bodily casinos. Geoffrey Stewart, general office manager of Caesars Online Poker has said “Like any other business, you’re always searching for what is the next distribution channel.”g