There are only three forms of online gambling in the United States that are legal. The first is fantasy sports, which are games where players build their own team that competes against other teams based on the statistics generated by the real individual players or teams of a professional sport. Some of the more popular sports are baseball, football, soccer, basketball, golf, and auto racing. The second is online lotteries which are games involving the drawing of lots for a prize. Last is horse and harness racing, which is self-explanatory.
The Federal Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act put a stop to all kinds of online gambling. The root of the problem was the money that was being transferred from a bank to an online gambling site. Gamblers have to upload funds to the online gambling company to make bets or play games and then they cash out their winnings. The U.S. banks prohibit the use of their credit and debit cards for the purpose of internet gambling. Because of this, some of the international sites have discontinued their service to U.S. residents.
Online gambling still goes on today, gamblers just use offshore accounts to get their money where it is needed so they can play. Billions of dollars are spent on gambling every year. It’s reminiscent of prohibition. When you take something away that is popular with many people, they are going to find a way around the law.
It is estimated that online poker and casino games alone could generate up to twelve billion dollars in the U.S. It was also concluded that the U.S. market would, at some point, legalize gambling because of the tax dollars it stands to gain. Betfair, which is a U.K. based internet-gambling company, is betting on it. They want to introduce the Facebook generation to the horseracing. Facebook is a social networking website. Users can join networks organized by city, workplace, school, and region to connect and interact with other people. Facebook is available in over fifty countries.
In January, Betfair bought American TV Games Network, which is an online horse race betting company. The price tag was a staggering $50 million, mainly because TVG has its own television channel that broadcasts horseracing to 32 million households in the U.S. Because horseracing is legal in the U.S. Betfair is focused solely on it. However, they believe that other forms of gambling will become legal in the U.S. and when they do, Betfair will be ready to expand and include them
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