Online Casinos Directory

Senator Ray Lesniak is looking well on the decision of Senate Leader Harry Reid to deny the passing of online casino gambling. Reid denied the federal legislation and believes that online casinos should remain where they are as a result of the UIGEA rulings. Not that they both aren’t noting all that Harrah’s Entertainment has been doing to further the cause of online gambling in New Jersey. Harrah’s Entertainment has been instrumental in pushing for Governor Christie’s campaign manager to take his position. The casino also has pushed for online regulations to be instituted. It is no secret that Harrah’s is setting itself up well for online legalization of gambling. The company knows full well how lucrative gambling is and wants to get in on online gaming from the ground up when the laws change. Those laws are not going to be changing anytime soon however and Harrah’s Entertainment officials saw evidence of this with the decision to shoot down possible approval in the state. The company is left to hope that in the future as online gambling continues to break records, legislators will be willing to revisit the issue and change the laws regarding it.

Lesniak is looking for other areas of development when it comes to gambling. His goal is to move to intrastate online casino gambling that has uniform laws for taxation. He doesn’t want to fall into the same problems the EU has right now. Member states belonging to the European Union all have their own rules regarding gambling. The EU is finding it difficult to bring all together under one uniform code. New Jersey doesn’t want the same problems, stated Lesniak. The state has to find ways of helping current gambling issues to resolve themselves and to help the horse racing market to rally. Racing has taken a hard hit due to lack of customers over the past few years. The recession was particularly difficult on race tracks and most are looking to bring in slots gambling as a means of sustaining their budgets and remaining open as a result. It will take time to change, but Lesniak and Reid both voiced their opinions on the issue online gambling and how it should not be legalized just yet for the state of New Jersey.

The US is getting smarter. In the past days when the UIGEA was first brought to the market no one knew that gamblers would be as determined as they were. In fact a lot of legislators believed that the UIGEA would eliminate gambling and people would find other things to do. Contrary to what they thought, that didn’t work. People continued to wager, but without an option in the US, they merely moved their gambling elsewhere. They moved to offshore companies and channeled millions of dollars out of the country as a result. It was terrible news for the US, but it was indicative of the global market and what it has become. No longer do customers have to rely on one geographic area to provide for all of their needs. With the rise of the internet and online commerce, people can get whatever they want from anywhere they need to. It’s a difficult time in the market and gambling has especially been a huge monetary loss for the US. So what is being done to change things?

The US is now committing to spending up to $30 million to build a monitoring system to watch financial transactions that move in and out of the US. The purpose is to monitor illegal online activities from companies that are not regulated by any one government. The US is also trying to protect citizens from illegal predators who want to bilk them for millions of dollars. In addition, the monitoring should also help to counteract acts of terrorism by sending the movement from illegal gambling accounts to the improper hands. Money laundering is also a concern the US has and watching money could put a damper on this activity too. Thus far the US has only been concerned with amounts greater than $10,000 moving in and out of the country. Now they are widening that cap and looking for money of all levels. They want to know if smaller amounts that are less traceable are moving to and from the country for illegal purposes. They are willing to spend money to watch what is going on in the market, but are their efforts too late?

Anyone who has followed online gambling in the US knows what the UIGEA is. It was a bill formed back in 2006 and it stands for the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. It gave the responsibility of policing online activity related to gambling to the banks. Banks had to find ways of coding transactions and then denying those that were directly related to gambling activity. It was not easy and banks were not happy. They maintained that it posed a huge financial burden for the man power of policing every transaction that came through their online portals to make sure they weren’t gambling related. And if a transaction did work its way through the banks’ checking systems, they were then threatened with huge fines and turning over the monies related. The UIGEA was not welcomed, but banks had no alternative but to go with the government’s latest rule or face hefty fines. Things are changing now though but the UIGEA is still holding on tightly.

Legislators are trying to turn around the UIGEA ruling, but it is taking a long time because it isn’t a landslide vote. Not all legislators are ready to overturn the bill. Some are fighting hard to keep it in place- they believe that if online gambling is allowed it will inevitably bring in a wide range of other problems to overcome like addictions, crime, corruption, violence and money laundering. The costs of monitoring and fixing these are too hefty to make legalizing online gambling worthwhile. The fight is still raging but now gaming companies are coming forward with their own reasons why the UIGEA should be done away with. So far Interactive Gamign council, IGC and the Poker Players Alliance, PPA, have both stood against the UIGEA and its precepts. They are fighting to reverse its power because they believe that some games should be allowed. Only time will tell where the market goes and whether or not the UIGEA will lose its power in coming months. Most likely there will be some type of push to at minimum amend it. It no longer is a workable law now that online gambling companies are wooing US legislators with millions of tax revenue dollars.

If you are a US resident you may have had problems recently with finding online games to play. As you probably know the UIGEA made online gambling difficult. It made the transactions from banks to casinos illegal and therefore cut the US gamer out of the market. Most US players moved their gambling to offshore companies and kept gaming. If you are in the market for a good online casino and you are in the US, then there are some things you can do. First of all, most casinos that accept US players online have some type of symbol. It could be an American flag or a “US” symbol. They aren’t going to make it hard for you though because the US is a huge market and gaming companies would love to capture a huge market share of the country. They are advertising and marketing heavily for gaming customers so you should not have a problem with finding a casino.

The next thing to look for with a casino is to find one that offers secure gaming. Remember that anytime you share personal information online you want it to come with the upmost in safety. You want secure servers and the latest encryption. Read through the Terms of Service and About Us pages of the website to make sure that they promise to offer both. The last thing you want is to share your information with a less-than honest casino and then have to work with identity theft or fraud. Once you check this, you can now do your normal searching. Make sure the casino has a good welcome bonus to enjoy. This normally is some type of match bonus up to a certain limit of deposit. You also want to make sure the company offers a good VIP bonus that will grow with you as you wager over time. Normally these offer tiered bonuses that will increase how much they bring you in returns over time. You want to be rewarded as you continue to wager and not just at first. The US market is a huge one and there are companies fighting hard for US customers. Do your own searches and then enjoy the games offered. Competition is a good thing because it pushed the market forward and brings better products for the consumer.

The US is seriously lagging behind in gambling regulation for the online market. So far all it has to rely on is the UIGEA of 2006. This is by all accounts one of the least effective methods of dealing with online gambling—in fact, it really doesn’t. It deems online gambling illegal and puts financial institutions in the position of making the necessary policing policies needed to keep legal. It’s interesting because the US market is proving to be the biggest market in the world and yet there are no rules yet in place to manage online gambling other than the UIGEA. Of course legislators are working to find their own rules on the issues, but it still is taking much longer than expected to regulate online gambling and find the proper ways to usher out the UIGEA. There are still debates going on whether or not the US should even legalize gambling, much less find ways to regulate it. It is interesting because of the vastness of the market and odd that legislators are still taking a negative stand against online gambling and changes.

If the US could regulate gambling online and start legalizing it, surely there would be a surge in companies that want to find licensing in the US. They know that the market is huge and would love to get first shot at building a market share in the country. Of course this means that they would be advertising heavily to the American public, but if the proper laws were in line, this could be done in a safe way for all gamers to take advantage of. Most online companies are watching closely what the US market is doing. They want to wait for the time when online gambling is legalized and are hoping that it will happen in months soon coming. The biggest problem is that the US is lagging in any changes that could open that door. Only time will tell how long the US is going to take to finally legalize and regulate online gambling. This first would necessitate a way to overturn the UIGEA and do away with its antiquated lingo and rules.

The interesting thing about the US gambling market is that it is considered to be the biggest online market in the world. Interestingly enough- it has yet to come up with a law that would allow for online gambling. So far the UIGEA of 2006 is still holding in the market. It is a bill that bans financial institutions from accepting gambling transactions. Though it was meant to regulate the market, in the end it did little to help. In fact, all it really did was cause gamblers in the US to look to offshore companies for their gambling needs. This sent billions of US dollars out of the country. You would think that the US legislators would now be pushing for regulated gambling to recoup some of those losses, but instead the debates are still heavy at hand. Legislators are taking up sides on the issue and it is creating a hard time for everyone involved. Many gaming companies are getting ready for legalization in the US, but it still may take some time for them to be able to truly take advantage of their new markets.

The US is lagging behind because locations like China and the Netherlands are already well on their ways to regulating online gambling. These countries know full well the tax revenue dollars involved and pushed hard to create laws for regulation. Canada is another country that is dabbling in the legalization of gambling online. It already made its first foray into the industry. Though it was not initially successful, it quickly rallied and started again. Overall gambling is a billion dollar business and countries are well aware of the financial benefits it brings. There are few other industries that can command the dollars that it can. Countries everywhere are looking to these benefits and wanting to bring them in quickly. The US is still pushing for some amendment or replacement for the ill-thought out UIGEA. It may take more time though because of the heated debates on both side of the issue. US legislators are still fighting it out, and only time will tell when the US catches up to other countries and their gambling laws.

The rules for gambling are changing quickly in today’s market. It’s no secret that the only law the US has been working with regarding online gambling is the UIGEA. This was a law that immediately raised eyebrows because of its handing over of all responsibility to the financial institutions. Banks were the ones who had to find ways of monitoring transactions, flagging those related to gambling and denying them. If the banks didn’t do a good job, they were at risk of huge fees and penalties, plus the money would be seized. Banking regulators were not happy because of the added cost, but their argument fell on deaf ears with legislators. Now things may soon change. It seems that legislators are writing up new laws that would help banks. They want to create a law that would force banks to track all international money movement through their systems. The value of this is to prove to legislators that there is a huge cost to tracking every online gambling activity. Banking officials were right—it costs too much for them to monitor all transactions. This could help them to prove their point and force legislators to come up with other solutions.

Normally all internet gambling websites utilize third-party processors for their financial transactions. These processors are able to code different activities differently on their computer systems. It is these codes that are creating the problems because banks have no way of knowing what transactions are being processed. If the banks can present this list of codes and their discrepancies to legislators, they may be able to prove once and for all that the problem is with the UIGEA law and not their procedures. However they are the ones being penalized for it and at risk of more fines as a result. So far legislators and banks alike believe that the issue here is the UIGEA bill and how it was written. They know that it is one of those laws that has a good starting purpose, but the writing is lacking in definitions that need to be there—especially for something as intricate and important as the market of gambling.

So far there are serious plans to overturn the UIGEA of 2006. Of course the UIGEA, or Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, is what initially stopped online gambling. It was a bill that was supposed to ban gambling and help to regulate in, but in the end it cost the US billions of dollars. When it was formed in 2006 it put the responsibility of monitoring and denying any transactions related to gambling in the hands of financial institutions. It was difficult for them because of the added cost of software and man power to help with the issue. Banks became overly sensitive to the issue because they wanted to avoid any huge fees or penalties. Even gambling activities that should have been allowed were swept away with the others and denied. So what was the result? Legislators were hoping that the UIGEA would deter US citizens from gambling but unfortunately that didn’t happen. Instead of deterring people from gambling, all it did was press them to start using offshore companies for their gambling needs. It pushed billions of gambling dollars out of the country.

Now things are looking good in terms of finding the proper regulation to bring gambling legally to the states. Legislators are working on new laws and states are opening up the doors for online gambling. They want the huge dollars available and know that there are few other options that would bring in the same amount of revenue. Gambling is considered to be a $3 billion business and is expected to at least double by the next few years’ end. The US wants a part of that mix and is pushing for regulation that monitors gambling but also brings safety to its citizens. States are already toying with changing rules on their own. They are allowing for slots to be brought into their jurisdictions in mass numbers, knowing that slots are some of the most popular gambling games around. In the end, it may be gambling’s revenue that saves the communities and their economies. Since the recession, most communities have been suffering and looking for a way to work their ways out of the recession even faster.

The market of online gambling is growing quickly. Almost every US state is in the midst of some type of debate over the games. On one hand you have legislators who are swayed by the money. No one can debate that gambling is a billion-dollar business. In fact, few other industries are showing the growth that gambling is in the online and land based markets. Legislators know that if they approve casinos in the market they can shore up rules that benefit them financially. Tax revenue dollars and licensing fees can be created to capitalize on the market and its overwhelming growth. For example, one good casino can see revenues of $20 million in any given month. That can mean an added tax bonus of $2 to $4 million per month. This is why legislators see the huge benefit of gaming and want to get it legalized and regulated for their states. On the other hand though, there still is a strong opposition to legalizing gambling. Some people feel that the monetary benefit is there, but legalizing gambling will create an inevitable rise in crime, corruption and addiction. The rise will create its own cost to the economy and that cost isn’t just monetary. It may spill over into an indefinable cost. For example, they believe that the rise in gambling may create more gambling addicts. The cost of counseling for them is real, but so is the cost of other issues like a rise in foreclosures for them, a loss of assets and a loss of family. Though these aren’t direct financial costs, how can the market make up for them?

In the end, part of the real problem seems to be finding a way to properly regulate gambling. No one is debating how lucrative games are or how much legalizing gambling could financially benefit the market. Especially now when gambling companies are the sole hope a lot of legislations have due to depressed finances, legalizing gaming looks like a great option. Is there an added underlying cost though? Yes—but legislators are going to have to find regulations and laws that manage to allow gambling but still protect those involved in it. This may be a tall order and may take some time to formulate.

Laws in the US are changing quickly and legislators continue to make rule changes as the market changes. Online gambling is just leveling itself out because of those changes. No one can debate that the gambling industry is a billion-dollar business but the question is how can the states take advantage of that. Right now there is a Federal law that prohibits the expansion of state-regulated sports betting. It is blocking movement in the industry and posing to be a huge problem for many online casino companies. iMEGA is a company that is currently contesting a motion made by the federal government. The US Department of Justice is moving towards shoring up rules for sports betting. iMEGA though is taking issue with the rules.

Right now iMEGA is challenging the federal law of prohibition. The company along with Senate President Stephen Sweeney and State Senator Raymond Lesniak are working to overturn the PASPA, or Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Ace. This is the law that puts a boundary on just four states: Oregon, Delaware, Nevada and Montana. The crux of the lawsuit is that the federal government putting such a regulation on just a portion of the country is unconstitutional. States that are exempt may make their own laws that allow them to take advantage of the sports betting boom that is going on. The above four states will be left with their hands tied. iMEGA’s belief is that this is unfair and unconstitutional for the government to do. The company is hoping that the court denies the government’s motion and brings the issue further to the debating table. The hobby is growing in the market and becoming its own million-dollar business beyond regular gambling. This is what is making it so attractive to gaming companies and those who are supporting legalizing gambling. They want to work things out so that all states can take advantage of sports betting and so that iMEGA can capitalize on the change too. The company is a leader in the world of gambling and opening the door to the sports betting can be a highly effective and huge money-generating move. In coming months the issue will come together and we’ll see if sports betting wins.