As it stands right now, individual states are free to prohibit or practice gambling within their borders while significant rules and limits are placed on interstate and this activity. Recently, online gaming has seen harsher regulations. With the Unlawful Web Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIEGA), it was not explicitly banned but instead it was online financial transactions that were outlawed. This meant that online financial transactions from gambling providers were now illegal which resulted in several offshore gambling operators excluding US clients from their services.
Existing in this legitimate grey area, it is no more a question of if online gambling will key in the US 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 finish of this year. Naturally, a gaming company in Las Vegas known as Ultimate Gaming was the first ever to offer online poker but for now restricting it to only players in Nevada. NJ and Delaware also have legalized online gambling and so far ten other states are considering legalizing it in some form or another.
Frank Fahrenkopf, president of the American Video games Association has mentioned that “Unless you will find a federal bill passed, we will 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 many existing commercial casinos and American policy makers. Will legal online gambling mean fewer persons in brick and mortar casinos? Will this create a new way to obtain revenue at hawaii and national level? What about taxes and regulations? An increase in gamblers?
. Lots of people including Arnie Wexler, previous chairman of New Jersey’s Council On Compulsive Gambling offers voiced concern that with the good this could do to generate income and revenue for specific states there could be problems with an increase in compulsive gambling. There’s particular concern regarding social media marketing in the US as some spots like Zynga have previously begun taking real-money bets.
Taking in mind all the questions and concerns, many hotel casinos are already making plans to expand into online gambling to check their physical casinos. Geoffrey Stewart, general office manager of Caesars INTERNET POKER has said “Like any business, you’re always searching for what is another distribution channel.”
