In the United States many voices are opposed to the opening of the online gambling market in a growing number of States. This has been the case ever since the UIGEA (Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act) was introduced in 2006. However there are plenty of objective arguments for the legalization of online gambling by looking at the facts.
The first online casino was established in 1995 and today there more than 2.500 online casinos available to choose from. This is the perfect opportunity to take a fresh look at the arguments for online gambling.
A study was completed by the audit company PriceWaterhouseCoopers that predicts that gambling (traditional casinos included) revenue as a whole worldwide will surpass $155 billion by 2012. Considering the increased percentage of online gambling in terms of the total revenue, that is a significant untapped market.
The opening of a land casino energizes the economy of an area and is a source of direct and indirect employment creation. New casinos must recruit everything from croupiers to cashiers, bartenders and cooks. In addition to this many sectors of the local economy benefit indirectly from the creation of the casino such as hotels, restaurants and recreational centres. As an example a recent study conducted in the US concluded that for New Jersey alone if the New Jersey’s Internet Bill is passed it could lead to the creation of over 57,000 jobs in New Jersey alone along with an added $472 million in tax revenues as well as attracting foreign investment.
For the legalization of online games, it is true that there is an effect of cannibalization between national lotteries, land casinos and new games companies. For example, with the legalization of online casinos in certain European countries, the national lotteries which previously benefited from a monopoly of the gambling market will see their profits fall as a result of a deregulation of the market.
However this also results in added fiscal income for the country as the income from such legal online casinos that would have previously been channelled through accounts in offshore or foreign companies registered throughout Europe can therefore be taxed locally and benefit the local national economy instead.
That is why table games and slot machines should now also be legalized. The illegality of online casinos causes significant outflows of currency and fiscally speaking a resulting loss of profit result for the state.
Even the most fun and best online casino games are addictive. It is undeniable that any form of online gambling is addictive. That’s a fact. Gambling has been a constant through history in most developed societies as a form of entertainment. It has been considered a way of testing our limits and skill against others and against chance itself. In certain cases it can become an addiction which can have negative and often catastrophic effects. It is therefore important to put in place structures that allow such addictions to be treated and monitored. However this is extremely difficult to do when gambling itself is considered a taboo subject and that gambling itself is considered an illegal activity.
It is this very fact therefore that threatens the balance of society and public health. It is in regulating and controlling this industry that lays the solution to effectively dealing with the victims of dependency.
