As it stands today, individual states are free to prohibit or practice gambling of their borders while significant restrictions and limits are put on interstate which activity. Recently, online gambling has seen harsher restrictions. With PG SLOT Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIEGA), it had been not explicitly banned but instead it had been online financial transactions that were outlawed. This meant that all online financial transactions from gambling service providers were now illegal which led to countless offshore gambling operators excluding US consumers from their services.
Existing in this lawful grey area, it is no longer a issue of if online gambling will enter the united states market but when and perhaps how. As just 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 firm in Las Vegas referred to as Ultimate Gaming was the first to offer online poker but for now restricting it to sole players in Nevada. New Jersey 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 gaming Association has stated that “Unless there exists a federal bill passed, we will have the greatest expansion of legalized gambling in the United States. I don’t think that’s what anyone intended, nonetheless it is what we’re finding.” This poses a lot of questions not to mention concerns for most existing commercial casinos and also American policy makers. Will legitimate online gambling mean fewer persons in offline casinos? Will this create a new way to obtain revenue at the state and national level? What about taxes and regulations? An increase in gamblers?
Many people including Arnie Wexler, past chairman of New Jersey’s Council On Compulsive Gambling possesses voiced concern that with all the good this could do to generate income and revenue for particular states there could be problems with an increase in compulsive gambling. There’s particular concern regarding social media marketing in the US as some locations like Zynga have previously begun taking real-money bets.
Taking in mind the questions and concerns, many resort casinos are already making plans to broaden into online gambling to complement their actual physical casinos. Geoffrey Stewart, general manager of Caesars INTERNET POKER has said “Like any business, you’re always searching for what is the next distribution channel.”