The Conversation – In its short life to date, online gambling has grown exponentially, both in terms of customer base and revenue. But the industry faces a difficult future as different governments begin to take wildly different approaches to regulation.
So far, individual states have shown little consideration for common interests or needs when setting their individual regulatory frameworks for online gambling, leaving a disjointed picture across the world.
Now, while the US moves to maximise revenues from internet poker and its kind, the UK is introducing increasingly prohibitionist rules. This could cause serious problems for UK operators.
n the US tentative steps are being taken towards borderless online gambling. Widely considered one of the last frontiers of online gambling, recent moves by the states of Delaware, Nevada and New Jersey suggest that the US is beginning to relax its laws prohibiting internet betting.
Until recently this didn’t seem likely. The introduction of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act in 2006 saw many publicly traded online gambling and poker sites withdraw from the US market. The UIGEA effectively buttresses the Wire Act of 1961, which renders illegal “bets or wagers on any sporting event or contest” made using a “wire communication facility”.
Then, in 2011, a fresh round of enforcement actions saw the founders of Full Tilt Poker, PokerStars and Absolute Poker charged for violations of the UIGEA, as the Department of Justice reaffirmed its commitment to pursue and indict those who continue to offer online gambling to US citizens.
But in a surprising turn of events, in December 2011, the Department of Justice reversed its interpretation of the 1961 Wire Act, ruling that “interstate transmissions of wire communications that do not relate to a sporting event or contest … fall outside of the reach of the Wire Act”. Now many of those online gambling companies that beat a hasty retreat from the US market are returning, investing in joint ventures with US-based businesses.
