As it stands today, individual states are free to prohibit or practice gambling within their borders while significant rules and limits are placed on interstate which activity. Recently, online game playing has seen harsher regulations. 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 service providers were now illegal which resulted in several offshore gambling operators excluding US clients from their services.
Existing in this legitimate grey area, it is no more a issue of if online gambling will enter the united states market but when and perhaps how. As recently as this month, three says 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 for now restricting it to only players in Nevada. NJ 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 Gambling Association has stated that “Unless there is a federal bill passed, we are going to have the best 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 many existing commercial casinos together with American policy makers. Will legitimate online gambling mean fewer people in offline casinos? Will this create a new way to obtain revenue at hawaii and national level? What about taxes and regulations? A rise in gamblers?
slot777 including Arnie Wexler, former chairman of New Jersey’s Council On Compulsive Gambling features voiced concern that with all the current good this could do to generate income and revenue for individual states there could be problems with an increase in compulsive gambling. There’s particular concern regarding social media in america as some locations like Zynga have already begun taking real-money bets.
Taking in mind all the questions and concerns, many resort casinos are already making plans to extend into online gambling to complement their physical casinos. Geoffrey Stewart, general manager of Caesars Online Poker has said “Like any business, you’re always searching for what is the next distribution channel.”