Change often takes a long time to happen, but it seems, in history, when change gets a little bit of traction it tends to happen all at once.  For the longest time it was political suicide for a President to come out in defense of gay rights, but now that President Obama has done it, the opposition has been exposed for the bigots that they actually are and the what was once acceptable now seems incomprehensibly barbaric.  The same thing seems to be happening with online gambling at this point.  While many have tried to regulate online gambling in this country, it seem that it took the Justice Department’s ruling on the Wire Act and a recession to lit a fire underneath the states.

While online gambling is not nearly as important a civil issue as gay rights, there is another major historical lesson that we should be pulling from when it come to vice.  Less than a century ago the United States placed a ban on all alcoholic products.  The ban on alcohol not only created a major crime wave that left the streets of the country drenched in blood, but it also managed to increase the consumption of alcohol.  Online gambling is now in the control of off-shore companies that do not have any oversight and have been known to rob consumers of their money.  This industry could use some regulation and consumer protections.  People are already gambling online.

Casinos are usually located off of major highways because they are easier to access that way.  Convenience matters a lot in the casino industry.  That is why so many major casinos have hotels attached to them so that people can conveniently stay overnight.  They also have restaurants so that people can conveniently get a bite to eat without leaving the venue.  It will be very difficult for the casino industry to out convenient the cell phone.  People now have the luxury of saving money on food, gas, and lodging by just gambling online.  There is also no longer a reason for anyone to pay for drinks at an overpriced casino bar or sit in an awful cloud of smoke just to make a wager.  I think that the online casino will quickly outshine the brick and mortar venue as most people’s preferred gambling venue.

We are at the dawn of the online gambling age in the United States and the timing could not have been more perfect.  The casino industry has always been directly related to the road trip.  For many years people would either jump in a car and commute to either Las Vegas or Atlantic City, depending on the coast in order to have a night of gambling.  However, that has changed a lot as several states have enticed their residents to stay and gambling within state lines by building casinos that are closer to home.  However, even these casinos are are going to have a hard time contending with the companies that will allow people to gamble on their cell phone.  Gamblers will no longer have to worry about paying for food, gas, or a hotel.  If they want to try their luck, they can easily turn to their cell phones.

We live in a time where most people would prefer to do everything if possible via computer.  It is not the computer that is so much the threat a it is mobile device.  Mobile gambling may be the single biggest threat the Nevada has ever faced and they need to do everything in their power to ensure that they are key players in the development of mobile gambling if the state still wants to profit as much as it does from the gambling industry.  While the brick and mortar casino will likely always be around, it is also very likely the people are going to find it far more convenient to do their wagering online instead of travelling to a casino.

Simply due to the fact that when people think casinos in the United States Nevada comes to mind gives the state a good chance at becoming the headquarters of the online gambling industry.  However, it must be made clear that there is no reason the industry must be placed there.  Nevada, like any other state would have to have to build a network of servers to deal with the traffic for online casinos.  The only thing that Nevada really has going for it is that fact that slot machine manufacturers have set up shop there.  These companies have several decades of experience creating gambling software.  Other than the social gaming companies of California there are no other companies that are prepared to immediately start cranking out online gaming software for the new state operations.  They are Nevada’s only hope.

Simply due to the fact that when people think casinos in the United States Nevada comes to mind gives the state a good chance at becoming the headquarters of the online gambling industry.  However, it must be made clear that there is no reason the industry must be placed there.  Nevada, like any other state would have to have to build a network of servers to deal with the traffic for online casinos.  The only thing that Nevada really has going for it is that fact that slot machine manufacturers have set up shop there.  These companies have several decades of experience creating gambling software.  Other than the social gaming companies of California there are no other companies that are prepared to immediately start cranking out online gaming software for the new state operations.  They are Nevada’s only hope.

Part of the reason that the United States government has been so reluctant to regulate online casinos is because offshore companies got at the industry first.  Often when a certain location gets at a new industry first if becomes difficult to pry that control away from them.  I do not believe this will be the case with online casinos in the United States.  There is a major lack of trust among American gamblers and these companies operating in obscure nations with little oversight and deservingly so.  There have been many scandals related to offshore casinos.  When consumers know that they are dealing with an American company that has to answer to American laws they will likely be more inclined to wager online.  The threat of competition for overseas companies, I believe, is minimal.

If there is one thing that consumers in the United States appreciate, it is quality control.  I am positive that if gamblers in the United States had the option, they would not prefer to make wagers on websites operated by unknown countries from overseas that have now laws deterring them from illegal behavior.  Regulated online casinos here in the United States would bring a lot of comfort to the American consumer.  Regulated casinos mean that if the casinos cheat their customers in anyway there is a set course of actions to take against the casinos.  While customer service goes a long way in keeping guests happy at an online casino, consumer protections go an even farther way in convincing gamblers to visit online venues in the first place.

The real reasoning for most things in this country is money.  Until now it has been very difficult to find a way to ensure that the revenue made from online casinos had a reliable way of being taxed.  Now that technology has gotten to a point where legislators can conceive of ways of keeping close tabs on the wagers being made from computers and mobile devices, they are ready to take their share of the pie.  In fact, the sooner states begin taxing online gambling, the sooner they can stop all of that money from going overseas to unreliable online gambling companies.  In this instance, time is literally money.