Industry leaders see iGaming as future of US gambling

The potential of online casino gambling has long been known, not least judging by the sizeable contributions iGaming states in the United States have been making to local governments in tax payments. Although a highly lucrative aspect of the gambling industry, iGaming has been rather slow to move, with only seven states allowing the activity across the country, to name Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey, Rhode Island, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Michigan.

Yet, things have been progressing, albeit slowly. Commenting on this progress at the SBC Summit North America, a seminal event that reunites the industry’s best and brightest, Bally’s Corporation Vice President Elizabeth Suever said cited by the Associated Press that millennials in particular are "comfortable running their entire life off their cell phone – this is where gaming is going."

With 41 states now authorizing sports betting, including Washington D.C., the seven states that host online casinos pale in contrast. When PASPA was finally defeated in 2018, industry experts expected legislators to move forward and pass regulatory changes that allow for both sports betting and online casinos to take place.

Yet, the actual process of legalization has been more fragmented, undergoing fits and starts. Fanatics Betting & Gaming, a fairly new company on the radar, saw its Vice President Brandt Iden comment on the expansion of iGaming, arguing that consumers were keen to get their hands on online casinos, and it was ultimately where the industry will need to direct its efforts if it wants to be sustainable in the future.

There are several hurdles that prevent a broader legalization of online casinos from happening. Lawmakers are one with many believing that iGaming brings a host of ills with itself, from job losses in the land-based sector to a higher incidence of problem gambling that would do more harm than good of increased tax revenue.

Yet, online gambling is happening even now, only at unregulated gambling sites that do not show any care or concern for customer well-being, nor do they offer sufficient safeguards to protect them from any pernicious effects associated with gambling.

Commenting as part of SBC Summit North America, FanDuel Senior Director Cesar Fernandez confirmed that consumers are finding online casinos increasingly attractive, and that the financial incentive for companies to look harder into this vertical is strong, as companies are also trying to navigate a mesh of increasing regulation and drying post-COVID aid flow.

The good news is that tangible evidence is emerging that the online casino sector is not here to steal the land-based sector’s thunder, as most of these digital operations are helping boost the results for land-based casinos as well.

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