On April 15, 2011 the online poker industry in the United States was decimated when the US Department of Justice effectively shutdown the three major players in the US, PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, and Absolute Poker.
Since then, three states have legalized online poker, and plenty more are looking into it, but despite the terrific gains that have been made the US online poker industry is still in a state of flux, with teal leaves even the most accomplished seer would have trouble reading.
The good and the bad of Black Friday
In the two-year span since the US Department of Justice saw fit to shutdown US online poker, effectively shuttering the entire industry sans a few offshore scragglers willing to continue to take the risk, the industry has rebounded with Nevada, Delaware and New Jersey have created legal online poker industries within their borders.
Now granted, the current incarnation of US online poker is a far cry from the juggernaut that was in place prior to April 15, 2011, but even these small footholds would have seemed like little more than the hopes of an eternal optimist in the wake of Black Friday.
When Black Friday occurred nobody had any clue how it was all going to work out. The fate of hundreds of millions of dollars of player money was up in the air, and the US online poker industry was for all intents and purposes wiped out in the blink of an eye.
As bad as it was at the time, looking back at the situation now, Black Friday also ushered in some unintended but very welcome changes with a legal and licensed United States online poker industry rising from the ashes.
As odd as it is to say this, it’s unlikely that a licensed and regulated US online poker industry would be as far along as it is now, with three states offering legal online poker games and plenty more exploring online gambling expansion, had Black Friday not occurred.
That being said, the nascent industry is now fighting for it’s very survival, and the next foot and handholds haven’t presented themselves at this time. Despite the gains that have been made continued growth and attempts to further legalize online poker in the US is far from a guarantee.
The continued state-by-state growth that was all but certain to come about following New Jersey’s successful launch in November of 2013 has suddenly become tenuous at best, as certain interests on both sides are currently engaged in a fight that will determine the future of online poker in the US.
Let’s take the conservative approach
A potential federal ban, and the ability for the next Attorney General to once again rewrite the Wire Act has left many state lawmakers in a state of uncertainty. Nobody wants to be responsible for spending millions of taxpayer dollars and countless hours setting up an online gambling industry only to see the rug pulled out from under them.
In these uncertain atmosphere, with the exception of California, all of the other states that have been mentioned as possible contenders for online gambling expansion have gone underground, preferring to take a wait and see approach to online gambling expansion instead of aggressively pursuing online gambling legislation.
Massachusetts and Maryland have both stated their intentions to let things develop further –Massachusetts wanting their brick & mortar industry to get off the ground, and Maryland keeping an eye on their northern neighbor New Jersey to see if online gambling is manageable and of course profitable.
Pennsylvania and Mississippi have also talked about online gambling expansion, but both states have gone to the time-honored political tradition of stalling without appearing to be stalling, by commissioning task forces and studies.
And then there is New York, where State Senator John Bonacic introduced an online poker bill and then promptly said he has no intention of pushing for the bill this year!
Top 10 best bets for online gambling expansion
Now don’t take this header to mean that online poker or online gambling is likely to happen in any of these states, even California, which landed at #1 on my list is no better than a 3/1 underdog, and the states near the top are close to zero to pass an online gambling bill. But here are the locales where it’s at least being discussed:
#10 — Rhode Island
#9 — Mississippi
#8 — Colorado
#7 — Washington
#6 — Maryland
#5 — New York
#4 — Massachusetts
#3 — Illinois
#2 — Pennsylvania
#1 — California
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