From Forbes
While Americans love to wager money, our country has an interesting relationship with legalized gambling. Though it’s legal in Las Vegas, Atlantic City, many Indian Reservations, and other places in the US, it is illegal elsewhere. Further, the legality of online gambling sites has also been questioned.
Many people who enjoy wagering a few dollars over a game of poker, blackjack, or other game, however, do not have the access or ability to get to a casino. Others, perhaps, have a bit of time to unwind in the evening, and wish to play but don’t have the time to visit a casino. For these Americans, gambling on the Internet could be a great option. Unfortunately, online gambling is in a state of limbo right now. In April 2011, the Federal Government effectively shut down the three biggest Internet poker sites. They’ve also taken action against other online gambling sites in the past. There are still websites where Americans can gamble online, but they’re not as trusted, especially given the government’s proclivity for shutting down online gambling websites.
More recently, however, the Federal government has decided that individual states can license Internet gambling sites, and that these sites would be viewed as legal under Federal laws. Nevada now has intrastate online gambling available (i.e., Nevadans can play other Nevadans), and New Jersey also legalized online gambling, but the online sites aren’t up yet. This is good news.
There are several key reasons why internet gambling should be completely legalized. The first is that, contrary to online gaming opponents, legal and regulated online gambling can better catch problem gamblers than other systems. With the current system, those with gambling problems who play online are playing on sites that aren’t regulated by authorities in any manner. If they don’t play online and play in a casino, they could lose thousands of dollars in relative anonymity. The current system makes it more likely that a problem gambler could “slip through the cracks”. If legalized and regulated, additional safeguards could be put into place to help those with gambling problems.
Second, online gambling will also be good for the economy. Up until the recent state legalization efforts, almost all online gambling sites are based oversees. If legalized, we would expect many of the existing online gambling sites to move some of their operations to the United States, while other sites would be newly created in here. The jobs created would range from computer programmers to customer service jobs. Given our high unemployment rates, we shouldn’t be turning down this opportunity. Another benefit is that with online gambling sites that are located in this country, they would have to pay US and state corporate income taxes.
