As New Jersey began its five-day online gambling soft launch last week, two major media companies went public with differing views regarding the industry’s legal return to the country, publishing editorials arguing for either side of the coin.

USA Today was the first to make its stance clear, publishing an anti-online gaming piece entitled “Internet Gambling Is a Bad Bet: Our View.” Just a few days later, Bloomberg argued the opposite, that i-gaming should be legalized and embraced, with its own editorial, “US Should Go All In with Online Gambling.”

The opinion of the Bloomberg piece is not only that online gambling should be legal, but also that a Federal bill should be passed to make the industry legal nationwide. As it stands, only states may choose to allow internet gambling within their borders and according to the article’s editors, that approach produces a variety of problems. “For one thing, a game such as poker requires significant pools of liquidity – also known as ‘a big pot’ – to work well, which is a challenge in small states,” the article read.

Indeed, small states like Delaware would likely never make much money offering games like online poker to players inside its borders. That’s why lawmakers have made sure to include the possibility of creating compacts with other jurisdictions that have also chosen to legalize the game.

But according to Bloomberg, this approach is not ideal either: “Joining forces in regional gambling blocks, as some states are considering, would expand the market, but it could quickly become a mess if they all have conflicting regulations,” the editors said. “Banks and payment processors are turning down perfectly legal gambling transactions for fear that they’d be enabling out-of-state or underage bettors.”

The article noted, “Two bills in Congress are on the right track.” According to Bloomberg, a “rational approach” would include legalizing all forms of online gambling (except sports betting), creating an oversight office at the Treasury Department, allowing states to opt out, and taxing operators at 4% on the Federal level and 8% at the state level.

USA Today, on the other hand, had a much simpler solution to the issue. In order to “pull the plug” on Internet gambling, all lawmakers have to do is “clarify that [the UIGEA], and a 1961 law from which it drew, apply to all forms of online gaming.”

The piece’s editors side with billionaire Sheldon Adelson (pictured), who has recently launched a crusade against online gaming. They believe that easy access to online casinos could turn anyone into a potential problem gambler. “People with addictive personalities would either have to give up their smartphones, tablets, and computers, or have a casino at arms reach 24/7,” the article stated.

Reminiscent of Adelson’s recent anti-online gaming comments in Forbes, USA Today highlighted the possible effects on young adults: “Parents worried that their kids off at college will fritter away time and money on internet gambling will be at the mercy of casino’s technological solutions.” Read more about the USA Today piece.

The issue of gambling, and especially gambling online, has always been a hotly debated subject. With three states already launching their own gaming products and others eyeing their progress closely, we are no doubt in for a lively debate.

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