On May 14, 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA), paving the way for individual states to introduce legislation permitting sports betting if they wish to do so. In the five years since then, sports betting has been legalized in a total of 37 states plus Washington, D.C. (33 are operational, four haven’t launched yet).? However, 0nly seven U.S. states, including Connecticut, Delaware, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia, currently have access to legal online casinos.
Rhode Island is the seventh and is expected to join the fray in Q1 2024, after the state’s Democratic Gov. Dan McKee signed legislation on June 20, 2023, that will make online casino gambling (and multi-state online poker) legal. One caveat is that live dealers are required for all online table games.
Lucrative Proposition
The disparity is a head-scratcher to be certain, especially when you consider that internet gambling brings in so much more revenue than sports betting. For example, in West Virginia, it reportedly takes three months’ worth of sports betting revenue to equal just one month of online casino revenue, according to Shawn Fluharty, who represents District 3 in the eastern U.S. state’s House of Delegates.
You may be asking yourself what makes playing at online casinos for real money so popular. Besides the obvious, the convenience of being able to play at an online casino from the comfort of your own home at any time day or night, a major draw are the generous bonuses, such as Welcome Bonuses, offered by many licensed online casino sites that provide real money casino games, such as slots, table games and liver dealer, to players who reside in the United States.
Why then have other states not joined the other seven? While some industry insiders and state legislators are of the opinion that legalizing iGaming will cannibalize revenue that would otherwise go to traditional casinos, others say it’s more of a matter of where the money goes, or who gets the biggest piece of the pie.
Finding What’s Right For You
What’s more, the process of finding the online casino that’s right for you can be simplified by visiting a reliable online gaming comparison site as they help you narrow your search. In your research you’ll find that the ones worth their salt automatically filter operators who are unregulated and unlicensed. In other words, those that pose the biggest risks. The best comparison sites also have forums where players vote for their favorite online casinos and games and share their gameplay experiences.