As it stands right now, individual states are free to prohibit or practice gambling of their borders while significant regulations and limits are put on interstate and this activity. In recent years, online video gaming has seen harsher rules. With the Unlawful Internet 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 online financial transactions from gambling providers were now illegal which resulted in various offshore gambling operators excluding US customers from their services.
Existing in this lawful grey area, it is no longer a question of if online gambling will enter into the united states market but when as well as perhaps how. As recently as this month, three says contain legalized online gambling and plan to begin offering bets by the finish of the year. Naturally, 1Win Brasil gaming organization in Las Vegas known as Ultimate Gaming was the first to offer online poker but for now restricting it to just 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 Gaming Association has mentioned that “Unless you will find a federal bill passed, we will have the best expansion of legalized gambling in the usa. I don’t believe that’s what anyone intended, but it is what we’re experiencing.” This poses a great deal of questions and of course concerns for most existing commercial casinos and also American policy makers. Will legal online gambling mean fewer individuals in offline casinos? Will this develop a new source of revenue at hawaii and national level? What about taxes and regulations? An increase in gamblers?
Many people including Arnie Wexler, past chairman of New Jersey’s Council On Compulsive Gambling has 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 marketing in the US as some areas like Zynga have previously begun taking real-money bets.
Taking in mind all the questions and concerns, many resort casinos are already making ideas to increase into online gambling to complement their actual physical casinos. Geoffrey Stewart, general manager of Caesars INTERNET POKER has said “Like any business, you’re always looking for what is another distribution channel.”