Online Gambling - Many questions, Few Answers

March 21, 2019

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When the US Supreme Court finally unleashed the sports betting beast in May of 2018, the entire gambling industry began feeling the rumblings. From one state to the next, decisions were being made at break-neck speed to decide the fate of sport gambling in each respective state. 

While that has manifested into 10 states now allowing its residents to bet on sports, the next wave of changes is underway. If sports betting is legal, why wouldn't it be legal to wager on sports online or through mobile devices? If people are going to be allowed to wager on sports online or through mobile devices, shouldn't they also be allowed to play casino games online? 

There are very interesting questions all tied together under one umbrella. At this point, four states (Delaware, Nevada, New Jersey and Pennsylvania) allow residents to play casino games online. New Jersey is allowing residents to wager on sports online as long as deposits are made in person at designated land-based casino sites. 

With as many 30 other states working to get gambling legislation in place in several different areas, everything seems in disarray. While sports gambling is on its way to legalization is most states within the next two years, the issue is not as clear as it pertains to any form of online gambling. In fact, the entire online gambling community is holding its breath while the Department of Justice makes a final decision regard its prior 2011 interpretation of the 1961 wire act that bans electronic transfers, including credit/debit cards, to fund gambling accounts. 

Meanwhile, states like New York are busy debating the pros and cons of online gambling. In New York, Governor, Andrew Cuomo has made clear he is not in favor of online sports gambling. He may well have that opinion about online casino gambling as well. 

In a recent interview, he worked hard to minimize the success of online sports gambling in New Jersey when he stated, “Sports betting, first of all, does not make you that much money. New Jersey has sports betting, it’s on TV all the time. You can’t turn on the darn TV without seeing it. They raised something like $13 million dollars – $13 million dollars is a rounding error in our state. So I don’t even think the economic benefit is there.” 

Clearly, online gambling is raising a lot of questions throughout the country. The answer should be coming soon.