As it stands right now, individual states are free to prohibit or practice gambling of their borders while significant restrictions and limits are placed on interstate and this activity. Recently, online video gaming has seen harsher restrictions. With the Unlawful Net Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIEGA), it was not explicitly banned but rather it was online financial transactions that were outlawed. This meant that all online financial dealings from gambling providers were now illegal which led to various offshore gambling operators excluding US consumers from their services.
Existing in this lawful grey area, it is no more a question of if online gambling will enter the united states market but when and perhaps how. As recently as this month, three states include legalized online gambling and plan to begin offering bets by the finish of the year. Naturally, a gaming firm in Las Vegas referred to as Ultimate Gaming was the first ever to offer online poker but also for now restricting it to sole players in Nevada. NJ and Delaware also have 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 Gaming Association has said that “Unless you will find a federal bill passed, we are going to have the greatest expansion of legalized gambling in the usa. I don’t believe that’s what anyone intended, nonetheless it is what we’re viewing.” This poses plenty 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 way to obtain 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 features voiced concern that with the good this could do to create income and revenue for individual states there may be problems with an increase 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 interwin and concerns, many resort casinos are already making programs to extend 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 looking for what is the next distribution channel.”