The United Kingdom’s online gambling industry is known as one of the world’s largest regulated gambling industries. Compared to it, the USA’s online gambling industry is new and steadily growing, but both countries operate their gambling industry in different ways. If you’d like to know what the differences are between each country’s gambling industry, you’ve come to the right place as we’ve covered it all below!
Regulation, Licensing, And Law
Gambling In The UK
In the United Kingdom, online gambling is legalised under the Gambling Act 2005. All gambling in the country is regulated by an organisation known as the UK Gambling Commission, which was founded as part of the Gambling Act.
The Commission is responsible for vetting and licensing all online casinos and their sister sites. It ensures that they all follow its licensing conditions to keep players safe and secure when playing. If casino operators fail to adhere to their licensing conditions, they are struck with fines or face license suspensions, forcing them to leave the UK market.
Gambling In The USA
In the United States, things work a little differently. In most states, traditional online gambling, such as slots and table games, is still illegal except in Michigan, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New Jersey. Meanwhile, states including Mississippi, Illinois, New York, Massachusetts, and Connecticut are currently in talks to legalise online casino gambling.
Sports betting is a different matter. Back in 2018, the US Supreme Court overturned the 1992 Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, which barred states with the exception of Nevada from allowing gambling on sports. Since then, several states have legalised online sports betting, while others legalised in-person sports betting.
Each state has varying rules on gambling and how it’s regulated. For example, Pennsylvania uses its Gaming Control Board to regulate gambling, but Florida has outlawed most forms of gambling. However, the state of Florida struck an agreement with the Seminole Tribe of Florida this year to allow sports betting at brick-and-mortar and online casinos. Unfortunately, a federal judge overturned the deal last month, ruling that it was in violation of the Florida state constitution and the federal Indian gambling law. Regardless of the legality of gambling in US states, the American gambling industry is very much in a state of flux as it’s constantly changing and developing.
Game And Casino Selection
As mentioned, the United Kingdom’s gambling industry is one of the largest, offering players a gigantic selection of casino games and online casino websites to choose from. This means there’s something for everyone, regardless of your interests in either traditional casino games, sports betting, bingo, or something else.
However, the games and casino or gambling sites available in the United States depend on the state and what has been legalised. States that have legalised gambling generally focus on sports betting, which means players are restricted to only betting on sports with no access to traditional online casino games. This restriction can be incredibly frustrating for players in the USA as they’re not given much content to enjoy when compared to players in the UK.
The Industry’s Future
Despite its already large size, we believe that the UK gambling industry will continue to expand as additional casino operators and game developers look to launch in the nation. However, this is subject to the Government’s review of the Gambling Act 2005, which could see a series of changes imposed within the next twelve months.
Similarly, we believe that the United States gambling industry will continue to grow and expand too. We’ll likely see more US states legalise sports betting and other gambling activities. This could potentially lead to the legalisation of traditional casino gaming, giving US players a better choice of gaming to enjoy.
