As it stands today, individual states are absolve to prohibit or practice gambling of their borders while significant restrictions and limits are put on interstate which activity. In recent years, online gaming has seen harsher regulations. ABOPLAY 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 all online financial transactions from gambling service providers were now illegal which led to numerous offshore gambling operators excluding US clients from their services.
Existing in this legal grey area, it is no longer a query of if online gambling will get into the united states market but when and perhaps how. As lately as this month, three states contain legalized online gambling and intend to begin offering bets by the end of this year. Naturally, a gaming company in Las Vegas known as Ultimate Gaming was the first 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 Game playing Association has mentioned that “Unless you will find a federal bill passed, we are going to have the best 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 many existing commercial casinos in addition to American policy makers. Will lawful online gambling mean fewer men and women in brick and mortar casinos? Will this create a new way to obtain revenue at the state and national level? What about taxes and regulations? A rise in gamblers?
Many people including Arnie Wexler, previous chairman of New Jersey’s Council On Compulsive Gambling provides voiced concern that with all the current good this could do to create income and revenue for individual states there may be problems with a rise in compulsive gambling. There is particular concern regarding social media in america as some places like Zynga have already begun taking real-money bets.
Taking in mind the questions and concerns, many hotel casinos are already making strategies to broaden into online gambling to complement their bodily casinos. Geoffrey Stewart, general office manager of Caesars INTERNET POKER has said “Like any other business, you’re always looking for what is another distribution channel.”