As it stands today, individual states are absolve to prohibit or practice gambling within their borders while significant restrictions and limits are placed on interstate which activity. In recent years, online game playing has seen harsher restrictions. With the Unlawful Net Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIEGA), it was not explicitly banned but instead it had been online financial transactions that were outlawed. This meant that all online financial transactions from gambling providers were now illegal which resulted in many offshore gambling operators excluding US buyers from their services.
Existing in this lawful grey area, it is no longer a problem of if online gambling will get into the US market but when and perhaps how. As just lately as this month, three says have got legalized online gambling and plan to begin offering bets by the end of this year. Naturally, a gaming organization in Las Vegas known as Ultimate Gaming was the first ever to offer online poker but for now restricting it to only players in Nevada. NJ and Delaware also have legalized online gambling and so far ten other states are considering legalizing it in a few form or another.
Frank Fahrenkopf, president of the American Gaming Association has said that “Unless there exists a federal bill passed, we will have the best expansion of legalized gambling in america. I don’t think that’s what anyone intended, but it is what we’re finding.” This poses many questions not to mention concerns for most existing commercial casinos as well as American policy makers. Will legitimate online gambling mean fewer folks in offline casinos? Will this develop a new source of revenue at the state and national level? What about taxes and regulations? A rise in gamblers?
Lots of people including Arnie Wexler, past chairman of New Jersey’s Council On Compulsive Gambling offers voiced concern that with all the current good this could do to generate income and revenue for individual states there may be problems with an increase in compulsive gambling. There’s particular concern regarding social media marketing in the US as some places like Zynga have already begun taking real-money bets.
Taking in mind the questions and concerns, many resort casinos are already making strategies to extend into online gambling to complement their bodily casinos. Geoffrey Stewart, general supervisor of Caesars Online Poker has said “Like any business, you’re always searching for what is the next distribution channel.” สล็อต