California May Lead the Way with Online Casinos

April 01, 2009 | News Category: Gaming Law

0 Comments It seems that it is simply a matter of time before online gambling becomes legal in the United States. Lawmakers all over the United States are discussing the pros and cons of such a move. On the pro side, many states are desperate for the kind of revenues that online casinos would bring them. Individual states will most likely be making their own decisions as to whether to accept online gambling or not. While some states are resisting the move towards online gambling, other states are welcoming it with open arms.

There always has to be one first, and it seems that Arnold Schwarzenegger may well be the governor that will bring California through as the first state to legalize online gambling. Schwarzenegger has already welcomes land-based gambling in California, so why not online gambling! California has been known as a liberal state for some time, and have shown this by leading the way for many issues faced in the United States. Speculation as to whether California will lead the way with online gambling is continuing.

While it is likely that California would be one of the first, if not the first, state to welcome online gambling, they still need to wait along with everyone else, for the highly problematic and vague UIGEA (Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act) to be overturned. Since the law was passed in 2006, its attempt at being able to ban online gambling has not worked very well at all. The UIGEA has often been termed as "vague" and has, quite simply, been mostly ineffective since its inception.

The UIGEA does allow individual states to make certain decisions regarding their policies in connection with online casinos within their boundaries. There have, however, been problems where payment processing accidentally did not go through because of the UIGEA.

Lloyd Levine, a state Assemblyman, has tried to bring intrastate online gambling to California. He is helping to push a bill which would allow licensed poker rooms to operate on the Internet. There are a number of other states that have shown interest in Internet poker, which has a slightly different status to online casinos as it is considered to be a skill-based game by many.

With Barney Frank in the process of unveiling his suggestions in the form of a bill for new legislation as far as online gambling is concerned, it is possible that the UIGEA will in fact be repealed. Should the legislation regarding online gambling be repealed, it will be only a matter of time before individual states begin to allow online gambling. The question for Californian's is: 'Will they be the first?'

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