States Look Beyond Borders to Leverage Online Gambling Boom

Online Gambling Boom

The gambling industry in the UK is experiencing a boom. According to reports from the regulator, the UK Gambling Commission, the industry is grossing over $18 billion annually. Around a third of this income is from online gambling activities. Proceeds from online casinos are on a steady rise with a reported seven percent increase from the same period last year. Slots are the most popular forms of play for online punters.

On the other hand, traditional physical casinos are down to less than a tenth of the total gambling market. With this in mind, it is clear that online gambling is driving growth in the industry. The UK gambling industry is about to get a boost from an unlikely corner of the world. It is expecting to collaborate with US online development firms to increase the online gambling segment.

The US side is already reaping the extended benefits of pooling casino players from various states. The state of New Jersey is enjoying an arrangement with Nevada and Delaware to pool players between the three states for increased revenue. The deal enables players from all three states to play against each other online. The states are yet to work out the liquidity sharing details.

The numbers are worth looking at. Delaware has less than a million and Nevada close to three million people. The two have had a player pooling agreement between them since 2015. On the other hand, New Jersey has nine million people. It collects around $2 million from online poker tables. The New Jersey scene is considered mature as they have more than four years of leadership on the online gaming scene.

New Jersey is also reaching out to the UK about a similar arrangement that enables them to share players. The UK holds about ten percent of the total European gambling market. It is estimated to host more than two million active online gamblers. Growth is projected to be in the ten percent range annually.

Experts are still crunching the numbers of available and potential players in the different regions to determine the expected gains for each region from the collaboration. Also on the table are issues to do with merging the regulations from the various areas to achieve one umbrella framework that protects online providers. Similarly, the negotiations have to address the matter of the applicability of the differing tax rates from each jurisdiction, player identity management challenges and related geolocation issues.

The three US states may get more enthusiasts joining the player-pooling bandwagon as more regions streamline their particular online gambling sectors. The latest entrant is Pennsylvania, which recently signed a revamped gambling bill that looks to regulate online gambling in the state. Regulators are putting the final touches on the licensing and test environments. The state collects in excess of $3 billion in gambling revenue every year.

Between the four states, there is an active market of more than twenty-six million potential online players. The Garden State is behind the push to expand player’s reach beyond servers in their jurisdiction.