As it stands today, individual states are free to prohibit or practice gambling within their borders while significant restrictions and limits are put on interstate which activity. Recently, online video gaming has seen harsher regulations. With the Unlawful World wide web Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIEGA), it had been not explicitly banned but instead it had been online financial transactions which were outlawed. This meant that all online financial transactions from gambling providers were now illegal which resulted in many offshore gambling operators excluding US buyers from their services.
Existing in this lawful grey area, it is no more a question of if online gambling will get into the united states market but when as well as perhaps how. As recently as this month, three states include 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 to offer online poker but for now restricting it to just players in Nevada. New Jersey and Delaware have also legalized online gambling therefore far ten other states are considering legalizing it in some form or another.
Frank Fahrenkopf, president of the American Gaming Association has stated that “Unless you will find a federal bill passed, we will have the best expansion of legalized gambling in the usa. I don’t believe that’s what anyone intended, nonetheless it is what we’re experiencing.” This poses many questions and of course concerns for many existing commercial casinos and also American policy makers. Will legitimate online gambling mean fewer individuals in brick and mortar casinos? Will this develop a new way to obtain revenue at the state and national level? What about slot online and regulations? A rise in gamblers?
Many people including Arnie Wexler, former chairman of New Jersey’s Council On Compulsive Gambling offers voiced concern that with all the good this could do to create income and revenue for specific states there may be problems with a rise in compulsive gambling. There’s particular concern regarding social media in america as some spots like Zynga have already begun taking real-money bets.
Taking in mind all the questions and concerns, many resort casinos are already making programs to develop into online gambling to check their physical casinos. Geoffrey Stewart, general supervisor of Caesars Online Poker has said “Like any business, you’re always searching for what is another distribution channel.”