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Strumpf said that a more logical approach would be to legalize the industry in the U.S. so that government can regulate it. But, he added, policies are not likely to change soon because it's a very easy political sell to take a stance against online gambling.
This is not to say that legislators' concerns about the social toll that gambling can take on young adults and those with addictive personalities are misplaced. There is little debate that online gambling could make it easy for addicts to feed their vice at considerable expense to their well-being and that of their families.
But prohibition means no gambling revenue flowing to the U.S. government to use toward addressing these problems because players are unlikely to report their winnings as income. Advocates of a friendlier regulatory approach to online gambling in the U.S. believe that legalizing and regulating the industry not only will help reduce the aura of criminality associated with it (whether fairly or not), but also will result in increased tax revenues flowing into the U.S. Treasury.
Given how much politicians like new revenue streams, some have found it surprising that the U.S. government hasn't softened its hard-line stance on Internet gambling. The renewed efforts in Congress make it clear that the industry still faces a battle in the U.S.
But, as Bodog's Ayres put it, "Once governments come to the realization that online gambling is here to stay, we can expect to see a move toward regulation, and a paradigm shift in the world of online gaming."
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