As it stands today, individual states are free to prohibit or practice gambling of their borders while significant rules and limits are put on interstate and this activity. Recently, online video gaming has seen harsher regulations. With the Unlawful Web Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIEGA), it had been not explicitly banned but instead it was online financial transactions which were outlawed. This meant that online financial transactions from gambling service providers were now illegal which led to many offshore gambling operators excluding US clients from their services.
Existing in this legal grey area, it is no longer a problem of if online gambling will enter in the US 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 finish of this 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. BOS88 NJ and Delaware also have legalized online gambling and so far ten other states are thinking about legalizing it in some form or another.
Frank Fahrenkopf, president of the American Game playing Association has mentioned that “Unless there exists a federal bill passed, we will have the best expansion of legalized gambling in america. I don’t believe that’s what anyone intended, nonetheless it is what we’re finding.” This poses lots of questions and of course concerns for most existing commercial casinos along with American policy makers. Will lawful 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? An increase in gamblers?
Many people including Arnie Wexler, previous chairman of New Jersey’s Council On Compulsive Gambling provides voiced concern that with all the good this could do to create income and revenue for particular person states there may be problems with a rise in compulsive gambling. There’s particular concern regarding social media in the US as some areas like Zynga have previously begun taking real-money bets.
Taking in mind all the questions and concerns, many hotel casinos are already making ideas to expand into online gambling to complement their physical casinos. Geoffrey Stewart, general manager of Caesars INTERNET POKER has said “Like any business, you’re always looking for what is the next distribution channel.”