United States Gambling Research

In the United States there’s a tug of war going on between proponents in favour of internet gambling and those who aren’t.

It’s inevitable that regular surveys will have to be taken soon in order to properly gauge peoples’ stance when it comes to the regulation and legalization of it in America. Ipsos a Lottery and Gaming Group recently conducted a survey just publicized its findings.

One of the key issues that came out in the research is the projected behaviour of U.S citizens toward internet gambling in general. During the last year only 9% of Americans admitted that they wagered at internet casinos. The survey pointed out that should the American government legalize and regulate internet gambling, only a mere 13% of U.S citizens said that they would wager online within the next 12 months. On the contrary, if regulated internet gambling services were offered by their favourite land-based casino then the amount would increase to 15%.

In addition the Ipsos survey also investigated a concurrent problem that is knee haltering the internet gambling industry and U.S lawmakers. The question is should internet gambling be regulated by the federal government or by state governments? This exact issue was mentioned in a survey last year by Ipsos. More than 55% of the respondents favoured regulated internet gambling by the U.S federal government.

According to Ipsos’ latest research, it indicates that the American public had a change of heart- 55% of the respondents favour state regulation now. Senior vice president and Managing Director of the Lottery and Gaming Group, Paul Lauzon mentions two reasons for this change in opinion. A lot of states in America are seriously contemplating the legalisation of internet gambling. Now that the Republicans are in control of the House and their stance toward internet gambling, most citizens feel that the federal government is not capable enough to call for the legalization of internet gambling.

The survey in brief mentioned the awareness of the legality of internet gambling in the United States. 41% of those interviewed regarded it as illegal. This perception has been perpetuated by the actions taken by the Department of Justice (DoJ) against payment processors and not so long ago against prominent internet poker sites. Strange enough, it’s against the law for payment processors to process gambling transactions for internet casinos, but there is no law that bans internet gambling in its entirety across the United States.

Between the 29 April and the 1 May, 2011 Ipsos conducted its survey online and 1006 Americans took part in it. The report indicated that the survey could have an approximate margin of error of +/-3%, 19 times out of 20.