As it stands today, individual states are free to prohibit or practice gambling of their borders while significant restrictions and limits are placed on interstate and this activity. In recent years, online gambling has seen harsher rules. With the Unlawful Web Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIEGA), it was not explicitly banned but instead it had been online financial transactions which were outlawed. This meant that online financial transactions from gambling providers were now illegal which resulted in countless offshore gambling operators excluding US clients from their services.
Existing in this legitimate grey area, it is no longer a issue of if online gambling will enter into the US market but when as well as perhaps how. As recently as this month, three states have got legalized online gambling and intend to begin offering bets by the end of the year. Naturally, a 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 considering legalizing it in some form or another.
Frank Fahrenkopf, president of the American Video gaming Association has said that “Unless you will find a federal bill passed, we are going to have the greatest expansion of legalized gambling in the usa. I don’t think that’s what anyone intended, but it is what we’re finding.” This poses a great deal of questions and of course concerns for most existing commercial casinos and also American policy makers. Will lawful online gambling mean fewer persons in brick and mortar casinos? Will this develop a new source of revenue at the state and national level? What about taxes and regulations? An increase in gamblers?
Lots of people including Arnie Wexler, former chairman of New Jersey’s Council On Compulsive Gambling has voiced concern that with the good this could do to create income and revenue for specific states there may be problems with a rise in compulsive gambling. There is particular concern regarding social media marketing in america as some areas like Zynga have previously begun taking real-money bets.
Taking in Indowin88 and concerns, many hotel casinos are already making ideas to expand into online gambling to complement their actual casinos. Geoffrey Stewart, general supervisor of Caesars INTERNET POKER has said “Like any business, you’re always searching for what is another distribution channel.”
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