Online Gambling to Get a Huge Boost From US Bettors
For years, the world’s online gaming industry has waited for an opportunity to break into a lucrative US market. In recent years, there has been a slow migration of states that now permit online casino gambling. Heading into 2018, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Nevada and Delaware had all passed bills allowing said activities. Well, the dam is about to break.
On May 14, 2018, the US Supreme Court announced that the 1992 federal law that had prohibited most states from authorizing sports betting was unconstitutional. The crux of the higher court's ruling focused on the constitutional guidelines that were designed to keep the federal government from legislating on a state's behalf when unnecessary.
Effectively, the way has been cleared for each state to permit legalized sports gambling as they see fit. It's easy to extrapolate that sports bettors from coast-to-coast are going to be heard. They will be putting immense pressure on their respective legislatures to legalize sports gambling in their respective states. Furthermore, it follows that the legalization of land-based and online sports gambling will enhance the chances of each state legalizing online casino gambling.
Already, sports betting legislation has appeared in Mississippi, California and Michigan as well as Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey. In fact, New Jersey casinos began accepting sports wagers on Thursday, June 14, 2018. As a side note, the state's first legal sports bet was placed by none other than Governor Phil Murphy.
It's important to note that all current legislation only address land-based sports betting, mostly through licensed casino operations. However, it's only a matter of time before each state legislature is going to recognize how ridiculous it is to try to prevent citizens from gambling on sports online when they are already doing it. They are doing it with offshore online gaming operations and soon, they will be doing it through gaming operations in other states, legally or not.
The reason online gaming providers have been patient is they are acutely aware of one important fact. Many states in the US are facing spending deficits. For years, billions in online gaming revenues have been leaking outside US borders. From each state's perspective, that translates to hundreds of millions in potential lost tax revenues. At the end of the day, money talks.
These changes have been long overdue. It's amazing that the US government has consistently believed they can legislate the Internet. Most European countries recognized the improbability of this long ago. That's why legalized online gaming is prevalent and well-regulated in Europe. Now it's America's turn to right a long-standing wrong.
Online gambling will not be legalized overnight in most states. There's still battles to be waged regarding taxation of online gaming revenues, regulations and the monitoring of integrity issues within major sports leagues. The Supreme Court's ruling certainly opens the door to all facets of online gambling and the dam is about to break. For the online gaming industry, the race is on to grab a share of the world's largest adult gaming market.