As slot online stands today, individual states are absolve to prohibit or practice gambling of their borders while significant restrictions and limits are put on interstate and this activity. Recently, online game playing has seen harsher rules. With the Unlawful Web Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIEGA), it had been not explicitly banned but instead it had been online financial transactions which were outlawed. This meant that all online financial dealings from gambling service providers were now illegal which resulted in various offshore gambling operators excluding US buyers from their services.
Existing in this legitimate grey area, it is no longer a issue of if online gambling will enter 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 finish of this 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. 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 explained that “Unless there is 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, nonetheless it is what we’re viewing.” This poses a lot of questions and of course concerns for many existing commercial casinos in addition to American policy makers. Will lawful online gambling mean fewer men and women in offline casinos? Will this create a new way to obtain revenue at the state and national level? What about taxes and regulations? An increase in gamblers?
Lots of 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 create income and revenue for specific states there may be problems with an increase in compulsive gambling. There’s particular concern regarding social media in the US as some locations like Zynga have already begun taking real-money bets.
Taking in mind all the questions and concerns, many hotel casinos are already making plans to extend into online gambling to complement their actual casinos. Geoffrey Stewart, general manager of Caesars Online Poker has said “Like any business, you’re always looking for what is the next distribution channel.”