Internet casinos thrive in six states
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ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — In the 10 years that it has been operating in New Jersey, internet casino gambling has generated nearly $7 billion in revenue for casinos and their affiliates, sent over a billion dollars in tax revenue to the state’s coffers and helped keep Atlantic City’s nine casinos afloat while they were shut down during the COVID-19 pandemic.
So why hasn’t it caught on more widely across America?
Currently, only six states offer internet casino gambling: New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Michigan and West Virginia. (Nevada offers internet poker but not online casino games; Rhode Island has passed an online casino bill, but it is not expected to go into effect until March 2024.)
Casino operators, online gambling companies, analysts and elected officials offer a number of reasons why they think it has yet to expand more widely: among them, including fears (unfounded, analysts say) that internet gambling will draw gamblers away from physical casinos, and a higher priority effort to approve sports betting — nearly 90% of which is done online in two-thirds of the states.
Proponents say they expect additional states to adopt online casino gambling soon, in part because a wave of federal pandemic stimulus funding from the federal government is ending, and states are once again looking for new sources of tax revenue.
Internet gambling “stands out as the most lucrative revenue source from any gaming launch in history, and New Jersey is ‘exhibit A’ for its success,” said Howard Glaser of the internet gambling technology company Light & Wonder. He predicted dozens of states will adopt it in the near future.
However, Chris Krafcik, managing director of the Eilers & Krejcik gambling analytics firm, said some states may be hesitant to forge ahead with internet casinos, which some lawmakers may view as a more serious, high-stakes form of gambling than online sports betting. Another factor is competition from online giants like DraftKings and FanDuel that control nearly half the online casino market in the U.S.
Krafcik predicted “only a very small number of states” will legalize online casinos by the end of 2027.
“Online casino has always been a tough sell,” Krafcik said.
One of those states may be Indiana, where an online casino bill died in February due in large part to fears that it would hurt the state’s existing physical casinos. A report from the state’s Legislative Services Agency warned of that, citing “loss of tax revenues from displacement of gaming activities at brick-and-mortar casinos and racinos” of $134 million to $268 million a year. Lawmakers plan to try again next year.
Elaine Vallaster of New Jersey has been playing internet slots for about three years on the BetRivers.com site, where she also likes the free bingo games and a chat function that has enabled her to make several friends with whom she socializes in real life.
“There’s a lot of things to do there,” said Vallaster, who once won $14,000 online. “I’ve met people that I go to lunch with. You laugh and have a lot of fun.”
