As it stands right now, individual states are free to prohibit or practice gambling within their borders while significant regulations and limits are placed on interstate which activity. In recent years, online video gaming has seen harsher regulations. With the Unlawful World wide web Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIEGA), it was not explicitly banned but instead it had been 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 buyers from their services.
Existing in this legitimate grey area, it is no longer a dilemma of if online gambling will enter the united states market but when and perhaps how. As just lately as this month, three says have got legalized online gambling and plan to begin offering bets by the end of the year. Naturally, a gaming organization in Las Vegas known as Ultimate Gaming was the first to offer online poker but for now restricting it to only players in Nevada. New Jersey and Delaware have also legalized online gambling and so far ten other states are thinking about legalizing it in a few form or another .
Frank Fahrenkopf, president of the American Gaming Association has stated that “Unless there is a federal bill passed, we are going to have the greatest expansion of legalized gambling in the United States. I don’t think that’s what anyone intended, but it is what we’re viewing.” This poses many questions not to mention concerns for most existing commercial casinos together with American policy makers. Will legal online gambling mean fewer people in offline casinos? Will this develop a new way to obtain revenue at the state and national level? What about taxes and regulations? A rise in gamblers?
Lots of people including Arnie Wexler, past chairman of New Jersey’s Council On Compulsive Gambling features voiced concern that with all the good this could do to create income and revenue for personal states there could be problems with a rise 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 resort casinos are already making programs to expand into online gambling to complement 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.”
