The United States has gone through quite a few changes concerning their gambling laws over the last 7 years. One change in the laws, in particular, has fueled the US based online gambling market. The 2011 DOJ Legal Opinion on the Federal Wire Act transformed online gambling in the United States in an unprecedented way.
This ruling literally opened the doors for individual states to pass legislation in favor of allowing online casino and poker gambling to be licensed at the state level. This, in turn, would transform the financial bottom line in a way that many states really need. But what we’ve noticed is that as individual states get on board or even start discussing the topic of state-regulated online gambling, the industry as a whole is gaining more respect among the general public.
State-regulated online casino gambling is providing online players with a greater sense of security conceptually about the online gambling venue, and this is transcending across the board. To date, only a few states have enacted laws to allow state-run online casinos or poker sites to operate in their state: Nevada, New Jersey, and Delaware. Pennsylvania recently passed legislation that legalizes online casinos for their state. Other states looking to pass online gambling bills in the future include Michigan, Louisiana, West Virginia, New York, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire.
With US states now starting to regulate online casinos, players are starting to feel safer about wagering money online and more confident about getting paid their winnings. As a direct result of some US states starting to regulate online casinos, credibility has been giving to the industry as a whole and is even changing the public perception of legitimate US friendly offshore casinos in a favorable way.
Nevada is obviously the most progressive state when it comes to gambling in America. Casino gambling has been legal in Nevada since 1931, and online poker has been legal since 2013. Casino gambling was first legalized to help Nevada to lure potential tourists to the state during the Great Depression.
Since then Nevada has been known as a gambler’s haven. There was a reason for the saying: what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. That was because gambling wasn’t allowed anywhere else in the US until 1976 when New Jersey legalized casino gambling.
Offshore online casinos have been a thorn in the side of the US federal government since their conception. The US has fought diligently to try to outlaw online gambling in the past, but citizens and online operators have found legal loopholes around the federal laws.
Offshore gambling sites are often licensed and regulated and hold compliance certifications from trusted gambling regulators. The US is years behind in online casino regulation, but Nevada, Delaware and New Jersey have stepped in and are willing to help set standards for regulators.
Some anticipate that the US government will federally regulate online casinos in the US eventually. There is still time before regulation is needed, and though it is not likely to happen soon, it would bring standards that would assure bettors the games are safe. Those standards could, in time, produce more revenue for states if the games are widely trusted, and more acceptance for the offshore brands who have been serving US players for decades.