For the last 25 years or more, the only option for online casino gaming in the United States was to use an international gambling website or sports betting operator.
And though this arrangement continues to be the most prevalent with millions of avid gamblers patronizing these legitimate gaming sites every day, there has been a growing trend in the US for states to embrace legal online gambling at the domestic level.
Just in the last week, two major announcements have reverberated across the US gambling industry, both of them having to with the expansion of online casino gaming.
In Michigan, Wynn Resorts has partnered with the Game Account Network (GAN) in a 10-year deal for the latter to provide the casino giant with its sophisticated iGaming and sports betting backend.
This deal will allow Wynn to roll out mobile sports betting and casino gambling in the Wolverine State sometime in November.
Commenting on the agreement, Jeffrey B. Berman, chief commercial office of GAN, anticipates that many more states will soon join the online gambling revolution.
“We look forward to powering the Wynn brand in Michigan with our highly optimized technology platform and enabling Wynn to efficiently invest their marketing capital to attract loyal sports betting and iGaming players. We are pleased to onboard Wynn, with its national casino brand and substantial Michigan-region patron base, as a major operator client and are excited at the opportunity presented by potential roll-outs in multiple additional states in the future.”
Similarly, MGM Resorts International has just inked a deal with AGS (American Gaming Systems) to enhance its own BetMGM casino app.
Already an industry leader in the few states where BetMGM operates, the AGS partnership should bring roughly 100 new RNG (random number generation) casino titles to the suite of games already on offer.
With over 470 games in its flagship New Jersey gambling app, this could make BetMGM’s premier product the biggest single gaming portal anywhere.
According to AGS executive vice president Matt Reback, this is just the beginning of much larger growth not just for the AGS brand or MGM, but for the industry at large:
“This is an exciting development in the growth of our interactive business, giving us access to BetMGM’s broad player reach and distribution of our engaging game content through the BetMGM, Borgata Online, and partypoker robust online casinos, which are live in New Jersey and will soon expand to Michigan, Pennsylvania, and other markets.”
It is important to point out, of course, that these options will be significantly limited for the foreseeable future.
In November, when Michigan’s online casino market officially launches, MI will be just the fifth state in the US to offer Internet-based gambling.
Though 20 or so states currently have online sportsbooks up and running (or in the final stages of pre-launch planning), casino gaming is still a harder sell in most of those regions.
It will be years – if not decades – before the majority of states offer domestic online gambling options, and because of federal US gambling laws and individual state gambling laws, residents in other states will not be able to wager with operators on an interstate basis.
In other words, if you don’t live in a state with legal online betting, you cannot bet over the Internet domestically.
Fortunately, it’s long been possible – and legal – to gamble online at US-friendly international casinos and sportsbooks, and there are no pending laws to prevent anyone in America from freely patronizing these reputable operators.
If you’re tempted to wait for your individual state to legalize local gambling apps before venturing into he world of online casino and sports betting action, you might be waiting a very long time, and you simply don’t have to.
The best USA online gambling sites all offer the same kinds of audited, certified games that BetMGM and Wynn offer, often with more games to choose from.
Such operators also accept Bitcoin gambling deposits and support other cryptocurrencies, which is something that’s not on the radar domestically.
Additionally, many of the top offshore sites are all-in-one gambling depots with casino gaming, sports betting, online poker, live dealer games, and even horse racing betting on tap.
While we’re excited about the state-based developments where online gambling is being supported and extended, access will have to be significantly improved before we’re willing to settle for these products over the better and more varied offshore experience.
Still, if you live in one of the few states with full online gambling, you should definitely check out what these big brick-and-mortar brands have to offer in the digital space.
At the very least, it’ll simply give you another source when shopping around to find the convenient casino games and online sports betting odds that work best for your bankroll.
Sources: PR Newswire, BusinessWire