How Does the Future Look for US Online Casinos?

The online casino industry in the US has changed a lot over the last few years. From a blanket ban issued by federal lawmakers, to a state-based decision where legislators pay much more attention to what the local population wants.

It hasn’t been an easy ride so far, but there are now four states offering online casino services—New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Delaware. And we can expect more in the coming years.

Why Is Regulation such a Mess?

The US is a special case when it comes to legalised gambling. Las Vegas, Nevada, known around the world as Sin City, is a huge cash cow. Many corporations involved in the casino industry have gone out of their way to prevent the online version from being properly legalised.

None other than Sheldon Adelson, owner of the Las Vegas Sands Corp., has been the greatest opponent of online gambling in any form. This is the man who did his utmost to kill off the industry in its first few years of existence, to protect his own business interests. Even as recently as the 2016 US presidential election, Adelson was donating millions of dollars to the Trump campaign in return for favourable policies.

Adelson was a major figure behind the UIGEA 2006 law which eventually destroyed online poker in the US. The piece of legislation was slipped into the bottom of a port securities bill that was totally unrelated to poker. The long and short of this was the bill was related to anti-terrorism measures which nobody would dare to vote against, and so online gambling was dead in the water.

The last 10 years have seen much progress and with the recent news that sheldon Adelson is looking for a buyer for his US business properties the future is looking bright for the online casino industry.

Moving Towards the Future

While we think that casinos in general are going to boom from next year, the brick-and-mortar side is going to have the toughest time. The world is changing fast, and the ever more sophisticated technology reaching our hands is only going to accelerate this. Online casinos will eventually dominate.

Pennsylvania is an interesting place to observe on this matter. There are 12 land-based and 10 online casinos in this state after online gambling was legalised in 2017. A cursory Google search for best online casino pa will show you just what’s on offer.

What first comes to mind is that a 100% deposit bonus is an industry standard in the online casino world. Can you imagine walking into the Bellagio and asking for $1,000 free money. Sure you might get something if they see you spending wildly but you’ve got to work for it. In the online world they’re just throwing bonuses at you.

Check out the number of table games available. Almost every online casino in Pennsylvania offers more than 100 different games. DraftKings has a whopping 377 for you to check out.

How can land-based casinos compete with this?

The new games seen online also give you a better return on your wager. This means that mathematically you will go on some serious golden runs unlike anything seen in Las Vegas.

On the Move

While there hasn’t been much getting around in 2020, people generally want to be on the move all the time today. When everything returns to normal people won’t want the hassle of driving to a casino. They will be leaning much more towards what this year has given them without a choice—an entertaining, hassle free, evening gaming at home. 

The rise of mobile gaming over the last two years has been phenomenal. It almost feels as if the genre is complete. Since the rise of smartphones mobile gaming has been full of little niggles where the end-user has been left wanting a few adjustments to become comfortable. This applies as much to online casinos as general gaming. But the last year has seen a huge rise in quality of production for mobile users.

Summary

The future couldn’t be brighter for US online casinos. The long-time enemy of the online industry looks to be on the way out. The technology is free of teething problems. And the 2020 lockdowns have pushed everyone towards online solutions for everything you can think of. All that remains to be seen is what happens with a new administration in the white house for the next four years.

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