Although online gambling is to all intents and purposes illegal in the USA, it is estimated that approximately 16 million Americans gamble for real money prizes online, and wager more than $6 billion annually. This is at offshore casino, poker, sports betting and other websites. These websites are out of the reach of US law enforcement but not entirely - look what happened to PokerStars and Full Tilt - and are not subject to US tax.

The loss of this potential revenue is the deal that advocates use in their attempts to get online gambling games legalized and regulated. There are several bills before congress, but nothing much ever seems to happen, apart from speculation. There is massive outrage in opposition to online gambling, under the pretext of protecting the vulnerable. For example; Stop Predatory Gambling, a nonprofit group says that the legalization of online gambling would open a 24/7 casino in every home, office and dorm room in the US, and that E-gaming "represents the purest form of predatory gambling."

We believe that people should have the freedom to choose and this is what living in the USA is supposed to be all about. Legalization and regulation would protect the vulnerable too, not only the vulnerable however, every online gambler in America. There is no debate about the fact that this industry could potentially change the budgetary yield of both federal and state government coffers quite substantially.

Right now the US government is losing billions in dollars worth of tax, licensing and other revenue, for fear that they won't be able to have complete control of an industry which is basically business without borders. But what is better a slice of the potential revenue pie, or nothing at all?

Even the American Gaming Association (AGA) who were dead set against any form of online gambling, has changed their tune. The recent Full Tilt Poker fiasco has been an incredibly expensive lesson in what US regulation could have prevented from taking place. Instead the DoJ closed down the site - robbing thousands of members from what was owed to them in their accounts, and essentially uncovering a whole hornets’ nest of deceit and scandal. Whether or not this scandal will prove to be fact still remains to be seen, but it opened the AGA's eyes, because the technology now exists to have all the potential 'correct' safeguards in place.

Online gambling has become a mainstream industry and this means it is driven by 'corporate' companies. These businesses are subject to company law and are therefore not allowed to operate under the radar, like some private companies have been known to do. It is for this reason that it would be such a good idea to legislate and regulate this industry NOW in the US. Cash-strapped states would live to have access to this industry revenue, but in reality intrastate gambling probably won't work all that well. It needs to be federally governed in order to have the right fiscal impact.