Online gambling is any type of gambling conducted via the internet. This includes casinos, virtual poker and sports betting. However, the very first online gambling site opened for the public, was lottery ticketing for the World Expo in Las Vegas in 1994. Since then online gambling has become an incredibly popular worldwide business with millions of people participating in it.
The success rates of regulated markets are extremely high. Online Gambling Commission statistics show that over 99% of operators in regulated markets are very profitable. This is supported by the fact that these licensed online casino operators are subject to a variety of government imposed regulations, ranging from deposit insurance to age verification. Each step is monitored and controlled to ensure compliance. These operations are subject to state and federal taxation as well as annual certification upon registration with the Commission. Regulated online gambling operators are required to follow strict anti-money laundering and anti terrorism laws in addition to financial regulation.
It has been argued that people can lose more when they gamble online than in real life. This is because while in reality we don’t know what the outcome will be, in the virtual world we do. This argument is somewhat valid. People can lose track of their own cash, but if the site from which they are playing has a secure and reliable payment system, they can rest assured that their money is safe. Many US online gambling sites use a number of different payment methods which can all be traced and verified before sending out funds. All transactions are held by these regulated gambling sites in a responsible and orderly manner.
Regulations regarding online gambling also prevent underage access to gambling sites and result in closure of accounts once ownership has been determined. This is a major factor in why online gambling sites remain regulated by the state in which they are located. However, there are still many US states that do not regulate or legally register gambling websites. In these states, it is completely legal for individuals to gamble for real money.
Online gambling sites that operate via software clients have very little in the way of regulation. The Internet connection used is not under surveillance by any government agency and no laws are passed to protect the online gambler. Any information or data obtained through the use of these software clients is kept confidential and anonymous. It is possible to trace the activities of a regulated casino’s software client. However, this tracing activity is purely on a voluntary basis.
Poker sites are perhaps the most widely regulated of all online gambling venues. In the US, all forms of poker gambling are strictly regulated by the Betting House Act of nineteen ninety six. This act specifically requires each of the fifty state licensed casinos to set up an account with a processor that acts as a bank. Once a player deposits funds into their account, they can make wagers with those funds by clicking on a special form of software provided to them by the casino. Each type of software program will allow a player to choose the type of wager they want to place, how much they want to bet, and how many times they want to place that wager.