The United States online gambling industry is barely 2 years old, as of June this year, but a lot of USA residents are unclear as to exactly what is legal and what is illegal. Quickly, federal statutes do not allow any US-based company to offer sports gambling online. And while there is no single piece of federal legislation which regulates a nationwide online casino or poker industry, those Internet gambling options are available at the state level. Nevada, Delaware and New Jersey all deliver regulated and state-based Internet gambling offerings, with a caveat. You must be located inside those state boundaries to enjoy cyber gambling that is run and provided by those states. With such a young but confusing industry, we thought we would provide a United States online gambling timeline which covers the last couple of years. We have to start all the way back in late 2011, when the most significant piece of federal legislation laid the groundwork for US states deciding their own online gambling destiny.
Year: 2014
United States Gambling Online Is Changing How the Internet Works
Who is Matthew Katz, and why should his opinion matter to you? Katz is the Chief Executive Officer of Central Account Management System (CAMS), and if you are reading this article, you most likely are a fan of some type of online gambling. The CEO of the payment processing company, which also handles Internet casino player verification, believes that online gambling as it exists and is emerging in the United States is going to transform the way the Internet works.
NJ Appeal Shot Down by Supreme Court
The residents of New Jersey, for the past three years, have told their representatives and federal lawmakers that they support sports betting in their state. New Jersey, Delaware and Nevada all offer online gambling in some form, and the New Jersey proposal would allow for the state to offer legal online and off-line sports betting options to its residents. In the United States gambling online industry, currently just Nevada and Delaware can legally deliver legalized sports gambling. To that end, Governor Chris Christie filed an appeal with the Supreme Court asking for a re-examination of sports gambling. This past Monday, the US Supreme Court judges declined to even examine the dispute. They upheld their 2011 decision, halting any efforts by New Jersey to legalize sports betting at this time. This means that at this time, only legal NJ offshore sports betting sites are an option for residents of the Garden State.
Will Canadian Buyout of Poker Stars and Full Tilt Poker Return Legit Online Gambling Reputation to US?
The amount of United States citizens gambling online numbers in the tens of millions. Then why is it that the combined states of Nevada, New Jersey and Delaware count only a couple of hundred thousand registered online gamblers? Those three states form the very small United States online gambling industry of companies based in the United States. Where is everyone going to gamble online? The answer lies in an established offshore gambling market which has been honing its craft and providing Internet gambling options for US citizens for years. Coupled with the 2011 Black Friday shutdown of the three largest online poker sites in the United States, those reputable and respected offshore gambling destinations are very attractive to US players for a lot of reasons.
US Gambling Online Provider Bovada Increases Casino Promotions for United States Players
Long before the states of Nevada, Delaware and New Jersey decided to legalize state based Internet gambling, Bovada delivered legal sports, casino, horse and poker gambling to residents of the United States. By qualifying for an interactive Internet gaming license from the Kahnawake Gaming Commission in Canada, Bovada now provides industry recognized certification. Way back when, Bodog was the leading Internet jurisdiction for US-friendly gambling. Bodog was founded back in 2000, well before the Department of Justice in the US decided to allow individual states to regulate and license online gambling offerings. The World Trade Organization (WTO) has time and again supported the right of Antigua (Bodog’s licensing provider) to offer Internet gambling services to US customers. Now owning respected Kahnawake licensing makes Bodog’s new entity ever more legitimate.
United States Gambling Online – What Is and Is Not Legal in the US
This year the World Series of Poker will deliver a $10 million Main Event grand prize. This is the first year since 2006 that the winner of the world’s most popular poker tournament will take home eight figures. More than $50 billion was spent on state-run lotteries last year in the United States. And Las Vegas casinos make over $100 million each spring on March Madness alone. Additionally, March Madness brackets played in sports bars and office pools across the United States involve hundreds of millions, if not billions of dollars. In 2014, a record $119.4 million was wagered at Nevada casinos on the Super Bowl. The bottom line? Americans love to gamble. So with the majority of US citizens believing that responsible adult wagering is acceptable, why is United States gambling online illegal? Well, actually, it is absolutely legal.
Powerful California Indian Tribes to Deliver Internet Poker Bill
California online poker at one point was deemed all but a certainty for 2014. Now that individual US states have the ability to license and regulate Internet poker and casino gambling for their residents, Nevada, New Jersey and Delaware have already done so. But the provision which laid the way for state-sanctioned Internet poker in the United States came into existence in December of 2011. With legally licensed offshore poker providers benefiting financially from US citizens living in those states where online poker is not currently delivered at the state level, it would make sense for cash-strapped states like California to get on board the growing US Internet gambling industry.
Could a Pennsylvania Online Gambling Industry Outperform New Jersey
The United States gambling online industry still currently counts just three states as participants; New Jersey, Delaware and Nevada. Nevada’s next-door neighbor, California, boasts the largest population of any state in the US. That makes it very attractive when you consider potential revenue production if online gambling in the form of poker and/or casino games was legally presented to its residents. And it looked like Golden State web poker was going to become a reality in 2014, but it now appears that 2015 is probably the earliest that California residents will be able to legally play online poker at state-sanctioned California online poker websites.
Why are US Gamblers Choosing Offshore Options Over NV, NJ, and DE Choices?
It has been almost a year since Ultimate Poker launched the new United States online gambling industry in Nevada. The Department of Justice decided it was okay for states to offer Internet gambling, as long as it was restricted to anyone physically located within that state’s boundaries, and sports gambling was not on the table. New Jersey and Delaware followed Nevada’s lead, adding Las Vegas style casino gambling as well as virtual poker, and as of this post, those three states remain the only in the US to legally deliver cyber wagering to their residents and visitors.
Will Christopher Walken Lose His King Of New York Title to Online Poker
In 1990, popular actor Christopher Walken portrayed a drug kingpin recently out of prison in the movie “King of New York”. Brutally wiping out his competition, he handed out much of the profits of his illegal operations in the film to the poor and lower classes of New York. With thoughts of running for Mayor, his altruistic but albeit questionable actions earned him the nickname which is also the title of the movie. Similar to the drug war that Walken successfully emerged from in the film, there is currently a battle taking place in the cyber world in the United States. Online gambling has legally returned at the state level in the USA, but most US Internet poker players currently enjoy legal offshore options. State legislators from The Big Apple are aggressively fighting for their state to become the fourth in the USA to get on board as they to strive to offer legal New York online gambling, hoping to gain control of much needed revenue which is moving out of state.