In 2014, we saw a full year of legalized online gaming take place in the United States in specific areas and now with a New Year, players may be wondering where online gaming is legalized for players to take part in. Below will be a short summary of where you will find legalized online gaming as well as which states may be currently preparing to introduce legislation to offer such gaming.
In the state of Nevada, legislation was created in 2011 to allow the state Gaming Commission to regulate online poker within the borders of the state. By early 2013, the law was amended to include a bad actor clause which would allow Nevada to allow interstate gaming. By the very next year, the state signed a deal with Delaware to combine player pools though this has yet to take place. The first online poker room in the state was Ultimate Poker but has since shut down leaving the WSOP as the top site of the state.
Delaware has been the state low on the totum pole when it comes to online gaming revenues. The state has very low population so they were unable to earn large revenues when the online gaming option began. The sites are operated via the state lottery and offers three sites via the gambling properties of the state including Harrington Raceway, Dover Downs and Delaware Park.
The state of New Jersey was the last to get in on the online poker and gaming action and quickly became the front runner to be the top provider of online gaming in the US. It took some time for the state to straighten out legislation but with WSOP and Party Poker operating in the state, New Jersey is easily the top performer in the US.
For 2015, all eyes are on California and Pennsylvania to be the next state to pass online poker or online gambling legislation. Both states have showed heavy interest in the gaming options but have yet to be able to create a bill that can move through legislation to be passed into law. If California legalizes gaming, many feel this will be the push needed to bring more states into the industry as California has the largest population and should be able to help streamline the industry.
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