USA Looking to Dominate the Online Casino Market
By Space Coast Daily // November 15, 2024
It might not be common knowledge to everyone, but there is an online casino movement that is beginning to make greater waves in the U.S. When casino games were digitalized for the first time in 1994, there was a very slow initial launch.
However, over the past couple of years, that launch has had lift off and the online casino industry is beginning to thrive as an extremely popular and lucrative entertainment avenue.
Despite providing the same offerings as the casinos that line the strip in Las Vegas, online casino providers have been able to evolve game play of casino games such as poker, slots, roulette, and blackjack to another level, creating animations and interactive features that cannot be found in a land-based casino. Coupled with the practicality and convenience factors that come with playing online casino on most household and everyday devices, as well as from most locations, it is easy to see why this activity has engaged millions around the States.
https://www.pexels.com/photo/people-playing-slot-machines-7594262/
A growing movement
The idea of playing however and wherever is certainly appealing to players old and new of online casino in the U.S, but one aspect of online casinos that often gets overlooked is the outreach they have. In the U.S, only the states of Hawaii and Utah completely ban online gambling. In the other 48 states, some form of online gambling is permitted. However, only seven states currently permit online casinos to operate.
In Connecticut, Delaware, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, online casino activity is fully permitted by the states, and these seven are not only benefiting from additional tax revenue generated by online casino play but are also paving the way for more states to follow their examples and introduce legislation to regulate online casinos.
States such as California, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, and New York are considering legalizing online casinos to create their own slice of revenue, but also to prevent illegal online casino markets from gaining a presence. The tide is certainly turning in the U.S with the United States ranking high in many metrics, including total revenue (1st – USD$23 billion) and percentage increase in revenue (2nd – 20.3% between 2023 and 2024). And this overall trend is being backed up by markets all over the world opening their virtual doors to online casino players. Here are the top five markets right now:
- United States
- United Kingdom
- Australia
- Japan
- Germany
U.S online casino doors open to the world
While the U.S currently ranks number one in revenue generated, the market was dominated for a long time by the UK. However, their slip to second position can be attributed to a couple of factors.
The UK has much more experience with online casinos than most markets in the world combined, and it is perhaps these learnings over the years that have led the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) to introduce new legislation capping the amounts players can wager on online slots. Furthermore, if players incur large losses, they will be subject to “invisible” background checks under a new pilot project currently being conducted.
Although these new regulations are in place to protect the playing public, they also benefit other international markets and online casinos like those in the U.S. With disgruntled UK players turning to online slots USA for their slots action without limits, this provides a welcome boost to operators in the seven (current) states that allow online casino action.
A bright future ahead
The greater issues around online gambling addiction might be a bridge that U.S regulators must cross in the future, but with only six states fully allowing online casinos and sports betting providers (sports betting only available onsite in Delaware), there is a long way to go before online casino action is fully accepted across the country. Despite online casino activity being in its relative infancy, it is clear to see that the U.S are already big players in the industry, and if the phenomenon spreads to more states, the U.S could go on to dominate the industry.
