With States falling further into debt and a massive federal deficit, many are talking about expanding the sports-betting industry and relaxing regulations surrounding online gambling in order to boost tax revenue.
As the US continues to struggle with a massive budget deficit, many are suggesting that gambling revenues could provide some much needed relief.
The standard set of negative concerns about gambling are always brought up, addiction, obsession and the loss of money. This is countered by the claim that gambling is just a form of entertainment, while some people will spend their money on theatre or concert tickets, other wish to spend it on gambling.
Now it is beginning to dawn on people that the government can also benefit. Last year the commercial casino sector in the US brought in $35.64 billion in revenues with $6.07 billion coming from the Las Vegas strip. All of these revenues are taxable which means the government can claim a significant amount of money.
At present a lot of online gambling takes place in the US, particularly on sports betting and poker, however, it is all done through offshore companies. These means that it isn?t regulated or taxed by the government, if laws were changed and the government allowed online gambling, then it would become taxable and another source of revenue.
Many state governments are now in need of financial help. It is hard to create jobs and the online gambling sector is completely untapped. If it was legalised many technology jobs would be created as well as jobs for operators and software developers. There will also be billions of taxable dollars.
At present legislation processes have started in Delaware, California and New Jersey with the hope that many online gambling activities will be legal by the end of the year. Time will tell if the rest of the country follows their example.
A bad economy can lead to large political change and legislation on gambling laws might just be the next major change to hit the US.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.