Online Gambling in an Anti-Gambling Era
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19 Oct 2024
In the United States today, online gambling has gone from being a popular habit for computer gamers to being a crime. What does this mean for U.S. online gamblers, and what options do gambling companies have in dealing with Washington? The feeling for many on the street is likely that online casinos business in the U.S.A. will be taken over by less than savory characters, and that a blanket ban on online gambling in the U.S. will be as ineffective as Prohibition was on alcohol consumption.
The irony is that the U.S. government saw itself as a protector of American gamblers when it banned online gambling. In having taken the view that online gambling was unregulated and therefore dangerous to the pocketbooks of U.S. customers, the Justice Department and Congressional opponents of gambling on the Internet sought to establish what they see as a defense against fraud. What they might not have realized - or might have realized, but not cared about - was that American online gambling proponents would likely have not continued gambling if they weren't getting some of the benefits some of the time.
It might be in five years' time, or even a decade, the U.S. government will see the error of its ways and revoke anti-online gambling provisions from U.S. statutory law. In the meantime, Americans will likely be able to find a way to gamble online despite government regulations against it. As with many other things which have been outlawed, by banning online gambling the government has likely given such a hobby the spotlight it needs to make it more popular than ever.
In the United States today, online gambling has gone from being a popular habit for computer gamers to being a crime. What does this mean for U.S. online gamblers, and what options do gambling companies have in dealing with Washington? The feeling for many on the street is likely that online casinos business in the U.S.A. will be taken over by less than savory characters, and that a blanket ban on online gambling in the U.S. will be as ineffective as Prohibition was on alcohol consumption.
The irony is that the U.S. government saw itself as a protector of American gamblers when it banned online gambling. In having taken the view that online gambling was unregulated and therefore dangerous to the pocketbooks of U.S. customers, the Justice Department and Congressional opponents of gambling on the Internet sought to establish what they see as a defense against fraud. What they might not have realized - or might have realized, but not cared about - was that American online gambling proponents would likely have not continued gambling if they weren't getting some of the benefits some of the time.
It might be in five years' time, or even a decade, the U.S. government will see the error of its ways and revoke anti-online gambling provisions from U.S. statutory law. In the meantime, Americans will likely be able to find a way to gamble online despite government regulations against it. As with many other things which have been outlawed, by banning online gambling the government has likely given such a hobby the spotlight it needs to make it more popular than ever.
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