How can online casinos prove their worth to the U.S. economy? By doing their best to be as transparent as possible. Officials in the Justice Department, as well as members of Congress, worry about online casino gambling not just because many people see it as a vice, but because the inability to regulate or apply American consumer protection laws against online casinos which may try to take advantage of Americans gambling online at their casinos. It doesn't help that online casinos do virtually all they can to get around U.S. officials interpretations of a decades-old law banning certain forms of sports betting over phone lines, these interpretations being used to enact a de facto ban on online gambling in the U.S.
In being based in "tax havens" like Antigua or Gibraltar, online casinos have that offshore financial advantage but they also create an image (by choosing to base themselves where they have) as being untrustworthy. This, even while major countries like the United Kingdom allow these same online casino companies to advertise in Great Britain and offer shares for their openly gambling-related companies on the London Stock Exchange. But still, perception is everything and the impression that U.S. authorities have of online casinos is that they are not trustworthy. As long as online casino sites proceed with the same-old tactics, U.S. authorities will not approve of online gambling.
Online casino companies are stuck in a rut of their own making. It isn't really harming them financially, as Americans still make up a huge percentage of the online gambling market. But it does hurt their bottom line just a bit, because as long as not only U.S. authorities and lawmakers believe that online casino gambling is illegal but too are able to convince many Americans that this is the case and that it is immoral as well, the potential money which can be made in the U.S. will never be what it could be. |
