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 video gaming has seen harsher rules. With Maxwin 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 online financial transactions from gambling providers were now illegal which led to various offshore gambling operators excluding US consumers from their services.
Existing in this legal grey area, it is no longer a dilemma of if online gambling will get into the united states market but when as well as perhaps how. As lately as this month, three states have got legalized online gambling and plan to begin offering bets by the end of the year. Naturally, a gaming company in Las Vegas referred to as Ultimate Gaming was the first ever to offer online poker but for now restricting it to just 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 said 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 lots of questions and of course concerns for most existing commercial casinos together with American policy makers. Will legitimate 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? Think about taxes and regulations? A rise in gamblers?
Many people including Arnie Wexler, ex – 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 personal states there could be problems with an increase 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 the questions and concerns, many resort casinos are already making plans to broaden into online gambling to check their actual casinos. Geoffrey Stewart, general supervisor of Caesars Online Poker has said “Like any other business, you’re always looking for what is the next distribution channel.”
