Online gambling is a big issue that is currently being addressed in America. Many people think that it should be illegal or regulated. While just as many others would argue the opposite. So should online gambling be illegal or at least be regulated?
There are many parents that certainly think so. Many college students and even some high school students have access to these gambling sites. With online gambling you only have to be eighteen to play. Many of these teenagers are spending and borrowing money to play online. Once they have borrowed the money to play it is not certain by any means that they will win. The most popular online game is Texas Hold’em which is a type of poker. When playing Texas Hold’em many people if not the majority play no limit. Which means exactly what the name implies if you have the money in chips you can put them in the “pot” during any of the four rounds of betting while your in the hand. So for many inexperienced players this can mean trouble. But hey it's your choice right? If you want to gamble its your money.
One of the common arguments for banning online gambling is the age limit I spoke of earlier. For such young people to have what could be unlimited access to so many games and stakes is not settling for some people. A large concern from this is that the percent of gambling addictions will increase due to the young age of many players. Since the player is online they can log on virtually any time and play. The only thing that you need to access these sites which there are a plethora of is a log in name and password. There are many incentives to signing up that most of if not all the sites advertise. So many would argue that no person under twenty one should be able to gamble online. The legal age in casino in the U.S. is twenty one why should it be any different online. Well the main reason is that the sites are run and located outside of the U.S. and the legal age there is eighteen. Therefore they don’t have to be twenty one.
Another large problem is taxing online gambling. You are supposed to pay taxes on your winnings since it is an income but this is a hard thing for the government to keep up with and easy for players not to claim. The government also can't enforce existing tax laws on online gambling. So there are many people who argue to make online gambling completely legal and taxable so the U.S. can tax it and generate revenue from the massive amounts of money that is being transferred in the online gaming industry. In an article written by Rep. Jim McDermott he states that by" regulating Internet gambling could generate between $3.1 billion and $15.2 billion in federal revenues during the first five years, and between $8.7 billion and $42.8 billion over the first 10 years." That is a substantial amount of money that would be put back toward government programs and to our state's economies.
Should online gambling be illegal. I would have to say no. The regulation of online gambling is the best bet, pardon the pun. With online gambling illegal people are still playing the same as before with very little consequences. If Rep. Jim McDermott and Rep. Barney Frank's Internet Gambling Tax Act were passed there would be gaining tax revenues that are being currently lost because of offshore betting.