Since 2013, online gambling has been a reality in the United States. In the beginning, it was only Delaware, New Jersey and Nevada that took advantage of regulation changes to create their own legislation to allow for real money online gaming. Last year, Pennsylvania finally decided to pass legislation to begin in the iGaming industry. Over the past two years, more states have showed interest, but have yet to pass legislation. With Pennsylvania making the decision to pass an online gaming law, we could see others do the same in 2018.
When Pennsylvania decided to provide online casino and poker gaming in their state, the decision was made in part due to a huge budget deficit. Online gaming can provide instant revenues as well as continual money on a monthly basis. As an industry begins, operators must obtain licensing, which has an upfront cost. Then once operations begin, the license holders will be paying taxes on the games they provide. Money is given to the state to get started, which instantly helps the budget while funds continue to come in each month as the sites remain open.
Millions of dollars are set to be earned and New Jersey is a prime example of what online gaming can provide as far as revenues are concerned. In 2017, the state earned $245 million, with casino and poker online gaming combined. This is an amazing amount and the online industry has certainly helped bring in extra revenues and revived the land based casinos.
Other states are seeing how successful New Jersey has been and are considering legislation of their own. New York, Illinois and Rhode Island are such states that need help with their budget and are looking to casino and poker games online to do so. Each state has the potential to pass online gambling legislation this year, as well as other states.
It will be interesting to watch this year as states being to consider iGaming legislation and hopefully we see a few take the plunge and pass such bills into law.
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