UK Mobile Slots Businesses Developing US Brands
Whether it’s Las Vegas or Atlantic City, you dream of going there to enjoy the many slot machines and all the entertainment
When you think of slots your mind almost immediately thinks of the amazing venues in the USA. Whether it’s Las Vegas or Atlantic City, you dream of going there to enjoy the many slot machines and all the entertainment. But what about when you want to play mobile slots in the USA? The situation isn’t quite what you might be thinking. Unlike the mobile slots played in the UK and Europe which are fully legal and regulated, the United States have had a very chequered history and it’s still not a totally ideal situation.
When the internet arrived, mobile slots were being played online all over the world. You might have expected the USA to be at the head of the queue but that wasn’t the case. mobile gambling isn’t legal in every American state and that has been the case for many a year.
Only recently has the situation began to change with states legalising online and mobile gambling. This is good news for bricks and mortar casinos who can now expand online but it’s been a long battle to get this far and it’s not over yet.
There may well be famous casinos in the USA but only in certain states. Nevada had legalised gambling in 1931 seeing it as a way of boosting their economy during the Great Depression. The current situation may convince those states yet to legalise gambling to do so.
The Battle for Legalisation
Those wanting to launch an online slots business found many obstacles placed in front of them over a number of decades. Legislative bodies certainly weren’t bending over backwards to help them. In fact, it was the opposite with the federal government doing all they could. There were the fears of gambling causing people problems.
Their long battle against gambling led to an attempt in 1999 to pass the Internet Gambling Prohibition Act but this failed. There was no such luck seven years later when a very prohibitive piece of legislation passed.
The Unlawful Internet Gambling Act of 2006 sounds just as bad as its title. One important factor with any online gambling site is the financial transactions that continually take place. Site members need to be able to register payment methods such as debit or credit cards so they can make deposits and withdrawals.
However, tha 2006 Act limited how banks and other financial institutions could deal with online casino and slots sites under either federal or state laws. This led to several sites refusing to accept bets from players in America. Enforcing these laws hasn’t been easy though and prosecutions have been rare.
Help from Overseas
So how did American residents play online slots? The answer was the fact that sites that were based outside of the US weren’t subject to American laws. Just as they did when wanting to bet on American Football or Basketball, the solution was to sign up with overseas sites and used international financial institutions. The important test was to ensure that the online casino you were playing at wasn’t based in the USA.
The position re the legality of online slots continued to be a complicated one. It was thought that the Federal Wire Act that had been passed way back in 1961 could be applied to online slots. That’s despite the fact that in the early 1960s, online gambling hadn’t even been thought of.
Nor was it helping casino business in the US who were quite keen on getting a slice of the online action. How frustrating must it have been for them to see companies from overseas getting more and more US based customers!
Finally, a Change
New Jersey have been at the forefront of a legal campaign to help them and other states legalise gambling in all its forms. Eventually, two years ago, a Supreme Court judge ruled that the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act was unconstitutional. That allowed each state to decide whether they would legalise gambling, not just for casinos but sports betting too. This has changed the scene in the USA with more online slots opening and the provision of sports betting. All extremely useful revenue earners for the states who legalised them.
It’s not as if the states that are now allowing legal online slots love gambling, though one US Governor does as you will discover later. What any state loves is revenue, especially in difficult financial times. They may not care how many players get a blackjack; their interest is in the additional tax revenues available.
Often it seems that the tax revenue raised is used to boost the amounts states spend on education. In Michigan, funds are being given to give medical assistance to first responders in the state. Publicising that fact helps to allay the fears of those who are against gambling. Promoting responsible gambling also helps with some of the tax revenue funding programs that deal with this.
Slots & So Much More
In New Jersey, you can try your hand at everything from online slots to poker and now sports betting. The latter has been mentioned previously and it has become an important element for casinos.
Take a look at UK online slots and European online gambling sites. The leading companies have a sportsbooks as well as their casino game. Now the situation in the States has changed where not only can online slots be run legally in some states, but they can get even more customers by offering the chance to bet on top American sports and more.
The Boom Begins
With legalisation finally achieved, there has been a steady growth in the number of US online slots business start-ups, especially in New Jersey. Bricks and mortar casino businesses now see the chance to finally be making additional revenue online like their counterparts in the United Kingdom. There are a some big names that will be familiar to you. Betfair and Unibet have crossed the Atlantic from the UK and now run online slots businesses in the USA. Betfair have become partners with FanDuel and it’s a relationship that is going very well to date.
These partnerships are good news for those companies as they look to expand their businesses globally. However, it is also important too for those wanting to set up online slots. The fact they form partnerships with such well-known and experienced UK companies helps balance the inexperience that the bricks and mortar casino operators have online.
The Golden Nugget Casino now has an online slots site that offers a great deal to their new customers. They have all the top casino games, slots aplenty and offer a sportsbook too. The online gambling industry is an extremely competitive one. The online slots site has welcome offers that are used to entice new customers to their site.
A lot of the new online slots offer a small bonus to start with, $20 in bonus cash for example or some free spins on a selected slot game (often with a wagering requirement involved). It’s when you are a member that the bonus can get higher. Your first deposit with the site can be 100% matched up to a figure as high as $1000.
It was in July of last year that the state of Pennsylvania saw its first online slots launched. As in other states, the process is that licenses are granted, and this began with the dozen existing land-based and racetrack casinos being offered them. This is a growing market; they may have taken their time to get to this stage, but they are making up for lost time.
West Virginia has also legalised online slots, doing so in March 2019. That wasn’t too big a surprise considering their Governor Jim Justice just happens to be a casino owner. He didn’t actually sign the act because of that fact but the process went ahead, and online slots are now legalised in the stat and the first to launch one was DraftKings in July of this year. The current health crisis has delayed the online launches, but more will be on the way seeing the current casinos offering online services.
DraftKings have quickly become a big name in the online casino industry. When new licenses are up for grabs, they often seem to be at the head of the queue. Their online slots are incredibly popular and offer everything that a player wants.
How do you decide which of the US online slots site to join up with? It’s not an easy decision and a lot of thought has to go into it. There is always the fear of fraud when dealing with online financial transactions. It is important that now you can join an online casino that is based in the USA, you are financially secure.
These online slots have to apply for a license from the state that they are based in. For example, in New Jersey, it’s the Division of Gaming Enforcement who decide who gets the licenses. They don’t just give them to anyone who applies and will be keeping a close eye on those who are granted them.
Which Online Slots Sites Should you join
The new US casino businesses are learning from those UK online slots sites in the just how to produce a great brand. Welcome Offers have already been mentioned in this article. Take a good look at any offer to see what the terms and conditions are.
A wealth of promotions is always good to see on an online casino. The new US online slots have gone down this route. VIP clubs rewarding loyalty to the site, special promotions when new games are added to the site and refer-a-friend bonuses are all commonplace on these sites.
An offer of a huge amount in a matched bonus may sound great but if there are high wagering requirements in play, it’s not so attractive. A site that offers a lot of payment methods is also a good one to join. Look to become a member of a US online casino that doesn’t think twice about telling you just how they encrypt username and password information.
Look to join a site that has a lot of games to play. You don’t want to be playing the same ones over and over again. US online slots businesses have soon discovered the importance of offering a large number of games and continually adding new ones.
It’s not just on your PC or laptop where new players are now enjoying all that online slots have to offer. Being able to play all the top games on your mobile devices is an important part now of any online casino. There are some great apps that can be downloaded, so you can enjoy your online casino when you are out and about. Many of the sites don’t even require you to get an app, their games are compatible with your mobile devices.
You can see therefore that the US online casino and slots business is now making great strides. It’s been a long wait, but their patience is being rewarded. More online slots offering great games to play, and a good number of bonuses and other promotions is the way forward. A trip to the US won’t see you playing in casinos and then going back to your hotel bedroom and not being able to gamble a bit more. 24/7 online slots are now here and legal and a bright future lies ahead for them, especially with the addition of sports betting to entice even more customers.
The events of this year make online slots even more important. The pandemic caused the casinos that you’d usually be visiting on a US holiday to temporarily close. That may or may not happen again in the future, who knows. But what we do know is that an online casino doesn’t close, it can carry on and be an important source of revenue, not just for the owners but the states too.