As it stands right now, individual states are free to prohibit or practice gambling within their borders while significant rules and limits are placed on interstate which activity. In recent years, online video gaming has seen harsher restrictions. With the Unlawful World wide web Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIEGA), it had been not explicitly banned but rather it was online financial transactions that were outlawed. This meant that online financial transactions from gambling service providers were now illegal which resulted in numerous offshore gambling operators excluding US customers from their services.
Existing in this lawful grey area, it is no longer a concern of if online gambling will enter in the US market but when as well as perhaps how. As recently as this month, three states own legalized online gambling and plan to begin offering bets by the end of the year. Naturally, a gaming organization in Las Vegas known as Ultimate Gaming was the first ever to offer online poker but also for now restricting it to only players in Nevada. NJ and Delaware have also legalized online gambling therefore far ten other states are thinking about legalizing it in a few form or another.
Frank Fahrenkopf, president of the American Games Association has said that “Unless there exists a federal bill passed, we will have the best expansion of legalized gambling in the usa. I don’t think that’s what anyone intended, but it is what we’re witnessing.” This poses many questions not to mention concerns for most existing commercial casinos and also American policy makers. Will legitimate online gambling mean fewer people in offline casinos? Will this create a new source of revenue at the state and national level? What about taxes and regulations? A rise in gamblers?
Many people including Arnie Wexler, previous 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 could be problems with a rise in compulsive gambling. xyz388 There is particular concern regarding social media in the US as some areas like Zynga have already begun taking real-money bets.
Taking in mind the questions and concerns, many hotel casinos are already making programs to increase into online gambling to complement their real casinos. Geoffrey Stewart, general office manager of Caesars INTERNET POKER has said “Like any other business, you’re always looking for what is another distribution channel.”