Online gambling is an umbrella term used to refer to any form of gambling that takes place on the internet. Despite having started as early as 1994, it is still illegal in some countries as well as in certain states in the USA. Nowadays the online gambling market generates around $40 billion per annum and is still growing.
Gambling in general in the USA is greatly regulated and restricted by the law. Despite being a $240 billion industry, many argue and criticize that gambling is responsible for increasing political corruption as well as crime rates whilst also being regarded as the main vector for compulsive gambling.
The legality of online gambling differs from one state to another so the question remains; is online gambling legal in new york? New York has only recently crossed the frontier between traditional and online gambling, mainly via its recent debut in online sports betting. In January 2022, New Yorkers broke the USA’s national record for the largest amount of money wagered in one month. The previous record-holder was New Jersey with $1.1 billion whereas New York now holds the record with $1.6 billion wagered in its opening month, as reported by CBS News. Whilst only available across a few gambling platforms, the large figures in New York’s online gambling scene are leading to many other platforms jumping onto the bandwagon as New Yorkers already own over 1.2 million accounts across said platforms.
The great, immediate success of online sports betting in New York can be attributed to many factors, amongst which are the many “free money” incentives (which can be as steep as $3000) being offered to users by their respective online sports betting platforms. It is also worth noting that these large figures were attained over a period that lies before March Madness or the Superbowl, which are two of the largest sports betting events of the year. One can therefore speculate that these figures will only continue to grow in the coming months. The main sports being bet on in the USA are American football, basketball, and baseball.
Social Casinos
Whilst one cannot legally bet real money at a real money online casino in New York, social casinos are an easy alternative that makes use of play credits and offers an online casino experience all whilst doing away with the financial risk but also the financial reward. Play credits can be used to play roulette, slot machines as well as live dealer games. Some platforms also host in-game events with real prizes, including cash.
Despite it still being currently illegal to play at a real money online casino in New York, many land-based casinos are more than eager to offer online options once this becomes legal. These online casinos would have a wide variety of advantages over the traditional land-based casino and these include a bigger selection of slots and table games, a wider range of stakes and limits than those offered by land-based casinos, the ability to gamble from the comfort of your own home (or anywhere one may please), loyalty schemes which include a vast array of giveaways, regular bonuses such as free spins as well as welcome bonuses for newly signed up individuals.
Once legalized, most online casinos would operate via an app that would be available via Apple’s app store or Android’s Play Store. Users would be required to complete a registration process and provide personal data such as their name and surname, address, date of birth, email address, and the last four digits of their social security number so that the user’s age and identity could be verified. One might also be asked to create a set of security questions to ensure the safety of the user’s account and information as well as provide some form of government-issued ID during the sign-up procedure or when making their first withdrawal on their new account. The banking options available may vary but the more popular and available options would make use of PayPal, online banking, credit or debit cards or even the use of real, physical cash at a real, physical cashier cage (owned by the online casino itself or a partner) much like the land-based casinos one can visit today.
Individuals residing in New York, as well as those who are just visiting, can equally make use of the online casinos as their apps would make use of geolocation software to ensure that the device being used and hence also the user is within New York state lines. New York online casinos, much like any other online casino, would have adequate responsible gaming resources to ensure that the casino games are kept fun and sustainable all whilst minimizing the risk of serious financial harm to the user and the development of gambling addictions.
