Does online gambling threaten state lotteries?
The news these days is all about politics, budgets, funding and other critical issues we face. It doesn’t take more than a glance at the CNN site to see that. But it’s always the more unusual takes on the news that draw my interest. One example. The governor of Maryland has spoken out against any federal efforts to legalize online gambling. His reason? Well, you might expect a plea that gambling is addictive and dangerous for people. The usual online gambling is bad for you stuff. But nope. His reason — any federal steps to make online gambling legal in the US would compete with the Maryland state lottery.
See, the governor doesn’t want people in his state to stop gambling. He simply wants them to gamble in his state. Which actually, should mean that its only Federal legalization of online gambling that would worry him because if each state legalizes gambling on its own, then each state could charge to tax and license online casinos that operate in that state.
Of course, there are some drawbacks to that plan, but mainly for gamblers. It could limit the number of places a gambler could visit to place bets or even to play slots free since I could see casinos not bothering to license in states with a low return on investment. While Federal licensing would result in a broader availability for online casino but still potentially give states the chance to opt out.
But what would happen if a state like Maryland opted out? I’ve been to Maryland and it’s not that big. I could easily see folks driving across state lines to hit a café and play at their favorite casino. Which is just another issue that would need to be tackled. But has anyone noticed that people are already gambling online? Because I think some of the politicians are missing the big point - legalizing online gambling really might not change much of anything about how we already play online.
And Maryland Governor, if people already play online and play the lottery, they’ll probably keep doing that.