WILL A TRUMP ADMINISTRATION BE FRIEND OR FOE?
by Contributor
(Feb. 27, 2017) — You’d imagine that the country that brought the world Las Vegas and Atlantic City would also lead the way in the online version of the industry. And with the revenues reported to be falling in both places you might expect that online gaming could be one of the reasons. However both of these beliefs would be some way from the truth.
Yes, there is online gambling in the States but both the laws governing it and its outlook for the future are far from certain.
To begin with the legal framework that surrounds it, there is no federal law that forbids the activity. But that’s not to say that individual state laws, especially in the most restrictive states, won’t make it an illegal activity. Against this confusing backdrop, the FBI do have some fairly stern words to say about it – though they do admit that they are more interested in pursuing companies who run illegal online gambling sites than the people who play on them.
Having said this, there are three states where all gambling, including the online variety, is perfectly legal and these are Nevada, New Jersey and Delaware. Other states thought to be close to being able to legalise the activity are Colorado, Pennsylvania, Florida and California.
Currently, if you want to enjoy an online gaming experience you need to be located in either of the three states where it is legal, and it’s very likely that your IP address will be checked to ensure that you are. Provided that you check out, in Nevada you will be restricted to poker-only games while Delaware and New Jersey offer you the opportunity to play casino games as well.
So this all means that there’s no denying that online gambling in the US has a long way to go until it reaches the sophistication of the UK’s market with its leading online casinos such as 888casino and wealth of choice. To underline this fact, the revenue figures from the three states in which it is allowed have, to date, been a little underwhelming. The best performer has probably been New Jersey which has shown good growth – though it has still fallen short of the ambitious predictions made by the state governor.
In Delaware the relatively small population means that the progress has been slow and in Nevada figures seemed to decline between 2014 and 2015. One idea that has been floated is that if these states all pooled their populations and allowed them to play across all three then online gaming revenues could improve considerably.
All eyes are also on President Trump to see what his administration’s approach towards online gambling’s going to be. On the one hand the taxes that it would raise would certainly help to finance “Making America Great Again” but, on the other, members of the Trump cabinet are known to oppose all gambling. Add to this the dues that Trump may still owe to supporters like Sheldon Adelson who are on record as being strongly opposed to it and the outlook’s far from clear.