As it stands today, individual states are absolve to prohibit or practice gambling within their borders while significant restrictions and limits are put on interstate which activity. Recently, online gaming has seen harsher restrictions. With the Unlawful Internet 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 all online financial dealings from gambling service providers were now illegal which led to countless offshore gambling operators excluding US consumers from their services.

Existing in this legitimate grey area, it is no longer a dilemma of if online gambling will enter the united states market but when as well as perhaps how. As lately as this month, three says contain legalized online gambling and plan to begin offering bets by the end of the year. Naturally, a gaming company in Las Vegas referred to as Ultimate Gaming was the first to offer online poker but for now restricting it to sole players in Nevada. NJ and Delaware have also legalized online gambling therefore far ten other states are considering legalizing it in a few form or another.

Frank Fahrenkopf, president of the American Gambling Association has said that “Unless there exists a federal bill passed, we are going to have the best expansion of legalized gambling in america. I don’t think that’s what anyone intended, nonetheless it is what we’re finding.” This poses a lot of questions and of course concerns for most existing commercial casinos and also American policy makers. Will legitimate online gambling mean fewer individuals in brick and mortar casinos? Will this develop a new way to obtain 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 features voiced concern that with the good this could do to generate 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 spots like Zynga have previously begun taking real-money bets.

Taking in mind the questions and concerns, many hotel casinos are already making plans to extend into online gambling to complement their actual casinos. BOS88 Geoffrey Stewart, general manager of Caesars INTERNET POKER has said “Like any other business, you’re always searching for what is another distribution channel.”