As it stands today, individual states are free to prohibit or practice gambling of their borders while significant regulations and limits are put on interstate and this activity. Recently, online game playing has seen harsher restrictions. With the Unlawful Internet 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 service providers were now illegal which resulted in several offshore gambling operators excluding US buyers from their services.
Existing in this legal grey area, it is no more a question of if online gambling will key in the US market but when as well as perhaps how. As recently as this month, three states have legalized online gambling and intend 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 also for now restricting it to just players in Nevada. New Jersey and Delaware also have legalized online gambling and so far ten other states are considering legalizing it in some form or another.
Frank Fahrenkopf, president of the American Games Association has stated that “Unless you will find a federal bill passed, we are going to have the greatest expansion of legalized gambling in america. I don’t think that’s what anyone intended, but it is what we’re viewing.” This poses a lot of questions not to mention concerns for many existing commercial casinos and also American policy makers. Will lawful online gambling mean fewer men and women in brick and mortar casinos? Will this develop a new source of revenue at the state and national level? Think about taxes and regulations? A rise in gamblers?
Many people including Arnie Wexler, former chairman of New Jersey’s Council On Compulsive Gambling provides voiced concern that with the good this could do to create income and revenue for unique states there may be problems with a rise in compulsive gambling. There is idn poker regarding social media in america as some areas like Zynga have already begun taking real-money bets.
Taking in mind all the questions and concerns, many resort casinos are already making strategies to expand into online gambling to check their bodily casinos. Geoffrey Stewart, general office manager of Caesars Online Poker has said “Like any business, you’re always searching for what is the next distribution channel.”