As it stands right now, 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 games has seen harsher rules. With the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIEGA), it was not explicitly banned but rather it had been online financial transactions which were outlawed. This meant that all online financial transactions from gambling providers were now illegal which led to many offshore gambling operators excluding US consumers from their services.
Existing in this lawful grey area, it is no more a query of if online gambling will get into the US market but when and perhaps how. As lately as this month, three states possess legalized online gambling and intend to begin offering bets by the end of this year. Naturally, a gaming company in Las Vegas referred to as Ultimate Gaming was the first ever to offer online poker but also 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 a few form or another.
Frank Fahrenkopf, president of the American Gaming Association has stated that “Unless there exists 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, but it is what we’re experiencing.” This poses lots of questions not to mention concerns for most existing commercial casinos and American policy makers. Will legal 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? hoki178 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 individual states there may 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 hotel casinos are already making programs to broaden into online gambling to check their bodily casinos. Geoffrey Stewart, general office manager of Caesars Online Poker has said “Like any business, you’re always looking for what is another distribution channel.”