Why do they think they can govern leisurely activity such as playing at an online casino? This is a question that was posed to me by a friend who doesn't really play online but was seriously surprised by the fact that the US government is trying to take away the right from US players to continue to play and enjoy the leisurely activity of gaming online. It's not really important whether it be online casinos, poker, sports wagering or bingo that they're trying to prevent us from playing but the fact that they are putting forth action that will prevent us from playing in the first place.

I've done a lot of reading on this subject and would like to know whether my views fall in line with that of what the majority of the users here on the site feel about this attempted prohibition of the online gaming industry.

The simple fact is that the US is loosing money on gaming as offshore companies that run these gaming operations don't pay any tax in the United States. At the same time the winnings that are incurred by players are not subject to any taxes either. Well duh... it's been like this since the inception of the industry why has it taken them so long to realize this. My though on it is that this issue of gaming was a minor issue until the US started taking a dive and more importantly pertaining to this subject specifically the land based casino sector started taking a dive when the economy started to plummet. Now it's Vegas's turn they see the profit potential of an industry that continues to grow even during the tough times like now... All in all my beleive is that large las vegas casino groups are behind both a push for prohibition but also this new push for regulation that has come about in the past few months as senator Barney Frank has introduced several bills that would actually help the industry in way it has yet to see...

I think that ultimately the long term outlook of the industry should really be towards regulation as opposed to prohibition as the US is in a financial crisis and needs to keep as much of it's money in the country although the US dollar is worth less and less it's still what I beleive to be the best course of action in regards to online casino and online gambling in general in the USA.

Well because the government tries to control everything Jordan... lol... Well anything that's lucrative for them and they can profit from either as a country or individually as most bureaucrats typically do.

I agree with Phizzle and too beleive as well that the IPO's of Party Gaming and 888 definitely ignited a flame that has since led us to where we are today. It's a real shame that things have gotten to the state they're in right now but the future is certainly looking more and more promising. Hopefully we'll see some positive changes in the very near future. The long term outlook as you said is definitely going to a regulated gaming market so it would be very interesting to see where we stand in 5 years time with online gambling. I very much doubt that things will be as they are right now.

My view on it is that all the previous bills that were attempted for introduction legislation that would lead to the regulation of online gaming in the US were fully stunted by these large Las Vegas casino groups. Now that they see how much money there is in it they've shifted their attitude and are now putting money behind backing the licensing and regulation of the industry. Senator Barney Frank is definitly on the right track if you ask me and now with the backing of some of the large casino groups behind him it's not very likely it'll take that much longer before we start seeing a Belagio online casino, Wynn online casino, etc...