There are so many online casinos, poker rooms, sports books and various online gambling sites, as well as so many different betting opportunities, it’s amazing that there isn’t also a site where you can bet on whether online gambling will ever be legalized in the United States. Certainly, in the current environment, online gambling doesn’t seem to have much of a chance in the US, however, with the new Democratic Congress, the legal status of online gambling may change. So far, the opposition to online gambling has been fairly vocal, citing moral and ethical reasons for keeping online gambling illegal (which kind of contradicts the legal status granted to online horse racing and some bricks and mortar casinos). As a legal basis, the US government has used the Wire Act of 1961 to prohibit online gambling and, more recently, passed The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act to prohibit banks and credit card companies from processing transactions between US residents and online gambling companies. No doubt, the US government is also concerned about the outflow of dollars that would come with the legalization of online gambling. Nonetheless, there are definite reasons that the anti-online gambling environment in the US might change. As mentioned previously, the Democrats now have a majority and they’re not nearly as influenced as the Republicans are by the religious right, which represents a large part of the online gambling opposition. Also, the WTO ruled against the US anti-online gambling policy, citing unfair trade practices, which may eventually force the US to at least soften its position on online gambling, if not do a total about face. No less important is the fact there are some definite advantages to be gained from the legalization of online gambling, including regulating, licensing and taxing industry profits and the winnings of players. Regulations and licensing mean greater protection of players. Taxes, obviously, could represent a significant source of revenue. Moreover, if online gambling is made legal in the US, US companies could establish their own sites thereby generating employment and possibly countering the outflow of dollars by bringing in other currencies. Finally, online gambling is extremely popular and the majority of Americans don’t think the government has the right to tell people if they can or cannot gamble. While it’s clearly too soon to predict what will be the future of online gambling in the US, it’s also hard to deny the element of inevitability. Posted on: February 2, 2007
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