New online gambling bills from both US states Mississippi and Washington

The battle for an open online gaming industry has already started in the United States. The few US states that recognized online gambling as one of the most profitable and safe markets, have pushed the rest of the country to reconsider opening state online gambling and betting markets. California seems to be one of the most controversial states as sometimes the Golden State does not even know what it really wants; several Native American Indian tribes, owners of casino resorts all over California, were totally opposed to the idea of an online gambling market, as this was going to be one of the most fierce market competitors. These casino owners and many other more, have been trying to make their point against the market, but that was just their justification to protect the monopolies that are already making them millionaires. Other groups, like Sheldon Adelson’s coalition, have tried to enter the US politics by buying out every single one of the politicians from the gambling states like New Jersey and Nevada.

However, the development of a profitable industry cannot be stopped because of the interest of just a few millionaires, something that California has been doing for many decades. The industry in the Golden State is in need of an online gambling market and California seems to be working on it already for this year 2015. Two other more US states have seen a great opportunity on the online gaming industry. Washington and Mississippi have recently introduced a new regulation to control online gambling. The state of Mississippi saw a bill last Monday from Representative Bobby Moak, the Mississippi Lawful Internet Gaming Act Of 2015; however, Mississippi’s representative has been trying to introduce some sort of online gambling legislation for the last three years without success. The state of Washington passed a 2006 law criminalizing online poker, with fines up to $10,000 and prison sentences; however, live poker is legal only in those locations that do not belong to Native American Indian tribes. Washington saw House Bill 1114 last Monday, brought by Sherry Appleton. The House Bill 1114 is not going after a complete online gaming legislation but only online poker. Curtis Woodward, from the Washington iPoker Initiative, has been the responsible for the state to rethink the opening of the online poker market, as he states on his blog: “For too long, the state has taken a harsh stand against, and then turned a blind eye to, internet poker. This state allows us to play poker in Tribal casinos and licensed card rooms, but considers us felons if we play from the privacy of our homes on our computers. This is not only silly, it is ineffective, as players continue to play on sites operated from outside the state’s reach, and without any real consumer protections”.