As it stands right now, individual states are free to prohibit or practice gambling within their borders while significant rules and limits are put on interstate which activity. In recent years, online gambling 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 resulted in many offshore gambling operators excluding US consumers from their services.
Existing in this lawful grey area, it is no longer a concern of if online gambling will enter into the US market but when and perhaps how. As recently as this month, three claims have got legalized online gambling and plan to begin offering bets by the end of the year. Naturally, a gaming company in Las Vegas known as Ultimate Gaming was the first ever to offer online poker but also for now restricting it to sole players in Nevada. NJ and Delaware have also 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 Video games Association has said that “Unless there is a federal bill passed, we will have the best expansion of legalized gambling in america. I don’t believe that’s what anyone intended, but it is what we’re experiencing.” This poses a lot of questions not to mention concerns for most existing commercial casinos along with American policy makers. Will legitimate online gambling mean fewer persons in brick and mortar casinos? Will this develop a new source of revenue at hawaii and national level? Think about taxes and regulations? A rise in gamblers?
Lots of people including Arnie Wexler, past chairman of New Jersey’s Council On Compulsive Gambling features voiced concern that with all the current good this could do to create income and revenue for unique states there may be problems with a rise in compulsive gambling. There is particular concern regarding social media marketing in the US as some areas like Zynga have previously begun taking real-money bets.
Taking in Jun 88 and concerns, many hotel casinos are already making strategies to grow into online gambling to complement their actual casinos. Geoffrey Stewart, general manager of Caesars Online Poker has said “Like any other business, you’re always looking for what is another distribution channel.”