Legal Online Poker in the US – The Ayes and Nays
The UIGEA hasn’t done much to keep America’s online poker players away. It’s made access to some sites harder, and deposit options have become more complicated, but not by that much. Still, there are forces at work pushing for legalization and regulation of online poker in America. Those forces are mostly obvious. The ones working against it, though, are more subtle.
For example, Harrah’s is making a push for legalization. They own an online poker site under the WSOP label and need to keep their noses clean so they can’t afford to offer their site to American players. The Poker Players Alliance has a clear interest here too. Some of the land-based casinos are taking up the cause for online poker and casinos in the hopes that they’ll be able to influence the laws and get the first licenses. Others, particularly tribal casinos, are concerned that they’ll be left out in the cold. For the first group, the gain would be enormous. Americans are abandoning the land-based casino to play online and these casinos are suffering. If they get their licenses, they’ll get back their financial upper hand. For the latter, the loss might not be as clear-cut, but they’re not willing to risk it.
Let’s not kid ourselves, their current fight is more a bid to become beneficiaries of any tax division of online gaming revenues than a real bid to prevent online gambling in the United States.
What’s more interesting is the states, like New Jersey and California, that are looking to get intrastate online casinos and poker rooms going. Those states seem to be looking to lock in their claims on tax earnings as well. Moreover, they may be looking to claim that they already have licensed online poker rooms in order to try to get their rooms recognized on a national level, bringing national revenues into the states. How this all plays out remains to be seen, but it was undoubtedly be quite interesting.
