AGA head calls for legal online gambling in Washington

With so much at stake, I recently testified before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce (Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade) to deliver a clear message: the attempted prohibition of online gaming simply does not – and will not – work,・writes Freeman in the article. Last year, before a single state legalized online gaming, Americans spent nearly us$3 billion – or nearly 10 percent of the entire worldwide online gaming market – on illegal, unregulated offshore gaming sites.

“In other words,” Freeman stressed, “prohibition has succeeded only in creating a thriving black market that places consumers at risk.”

The failed attempts to squeeze the Internet back into the bottle from which it came prevent law-abiding U.S. companies from innovating and prevent states and localities from creating jobs and reaping much-needed tax revenue,・added the CEO.

Freeman suggests that Washington examine statistics which show the incredible growth of online and mobile gambling, despite the laws in the United States, and insists that online gambling is here to stay (Rsk Blockbuster if streaming movies online was merely a fad・.

In his op-ed, the CEO head lists reasons why the federal regulation of online gambling makes sense for the United States. For one, he says, it will see that consumers remain protected from fraudulent operators. In addition, a legal, regulated market will see the black market shrink and make way for a more controlled and transparent market.

Congress has the chance to enact strong regulatory standards that provide a uniform set of protections for consumers while respecting states’ rights to choose what is in their best interests,・write Freeman.