Gambling is a part of every culture in the world, an intrinsic part of society from back alley card games with players squatted around in a circle on the street deep in the heart of Vietnam, to the glitzy and glamorous super casinos and lifestyles of the rich and the famous in gambling’s megalopolis Vegas. To deny that gambling is not tied to all societies is to turn a blind eye.
The invention of the internet has changed the way in which we live. We’re super connected to each other. Business can be done concurrently from all corners of the globe. We can play games and chat with people from China, Russia, and Australia in real time. Everything that the human experience is made up of can all be found online – even love.
It makes sense then that gambling is also a huge success on the internet. While originally, people played against computers, we now have huge multiplayer games and casinos where you can play advanced games with outstanding graphics. Casinos with no deposit codes and coupons are popular amongst Americans as well as Canadians, Australians, Taiwanese, and any other country that you could think of – people love to gamble without the overhead of putting down money, too. There’s also the thrill of betting on sports (and even fantasy sports these days!) to whet a punter’s appetite.
The laws surrounding online gambling for real money vary wildly throughout the world, though. Online gambling in the UK, for example, is legalized but strictly regulated. However, over in the US, all online gambling is currently illegal.
Why is gambling online illegal in the US? It’s a very good question to ask, considering the state of the internet and that people are going to do it anyway. We’re talking about legalising an industry that is already thriving – this year it’s estimated that the online gambling market in the US will be valued at 50 billion dollars. This is even more than the estimated spending in physical casinos in the country. And Americans love visiting casinos. Why wouldn’t we open up a regulated online gambling market, when we already have a regulated physical market?
Because of the power of the internet, now we don’t have to travel to specific locations to get just what we need. We can download a book instead of visiting the library. We can order a new toaster in a few clicks instead of visiting the store. We want the things that we like (and need) to be available online instead of having to go to a physical location to do so. Why not gambling, too?
There is currently movement afoot to overturn one of the laws holding one arm of online gambling back – sports betting. The federally enacted Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 is currently being debated in the Supreme Court – whether to repeal the act or leave it in existence. After New Jersey and several other jurisdictions decided to legalize sports betting in their regions, it sparked a series of lawsuits and since it was deemed an important enough issue, it was then decided that it needed to be sent to the Supreme Court to be heard.
If PASPA is overturned, then there is a chance that online gambling in general could be opened up in the US. This would bring the US in line with other progressive Western countries. The effect that regulating the industry could have on the economy is not to be sneezed at. The revenues that could be made from taxes could put a nice tidy sum back into the running of the country, being able to be put into some much needed initiative, either federally, or state by state.
When people are already gambling online by using apps and websites based offshore, wouldn’t it be better to be keeping the money in our own country? Why are we letting offshore companies and governments benefit from what could be an amazing opportunity for us?
The internet is causing plenty of headaches for law makers around the world, but there is no denying that these sort of activities will continue to proliferate, whether we like it or not. You simply can’t stop the roll of progress by the people. And that’s what this really is.
It’s time that we stop living in the past and believing like an activity like this won’t always be around. We need to take advantage of opportunities when they present themselves – like repealing PASPA, and even taking a good hard look at rewriting the ridiculously archaic Wire Act. If the courts can’t keep up, then we need to train our judges to have a tech-savvy consciousness. It’s simply outrageous that experts have to use analogies to describe tech that judges should be able to grasp at least mostly. Get onto it America, you’ve got this!
