This week sees the state of Illinois shifting its view of online gambling, the Illinois Racing Board is having a meeting today to legalise online gambling. The meeting today is to determine which of the 3 companies (if any) will receive licenses which will allow them to offer online gambling to residents of Illinois.
Gamblers could place their first legal online wager as early as tomorrow if the companies are approved. This is just one of many changes that have been made to the laws of Illinois. The legislators, recently, have even given rights to bars to offer video gambling machines in their establishments.
It seems that the gambling extension of Illinois is in line with some of the other states across the US. It seems that the lawmakers have woken up to gambling, well money anyway, since the collapse of the US economy some state lawmakers have been looking for extra money to fill budgets. Casino gambling had been the main target of the said lawmakers but the online gambling market is much bigger. It looks now that the laws have been changed which can accommodate the online gambling boom.
Online gambling has become one of the hottest issues from the US since they banned online gambling back in 2006, but the issue now is not actually gambling but the because there are unregulated sites that still allow US players it is draining money away from the US economy. Barney Frank has been looking to change the US laws which will then enable them to regulate the online gambling industry.
Frank had been unsuccessful in his previous attempts to overturn UIGEA (Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act), but now he has gained support in the key areas of Congress. And the reasoning he has given for the change has been simple, to regulate the online gambling industry so punter know that their gambling money is in safe hands.
Once the Illinoisan companies are approved, they will be allowed to begin their advertising campaigns for their online gambling sites. This new law will then allow residents of Illinois, who can not travel to the state racetracks, to enjoy wagers on horse races.
