There are many forms of online gambling. These range from buying lottery tickets online, sweepstakes sites, and daily fantasy sports contests, to poker, sports betting, and casino games. Some are licensed by state gaming commissions, while others operate without any oversight.
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Online lottery tickets
Lottery tickets are sold online in two different ways. Some states sell lotto tickets like Powerball and Mega Millions directly to players. There may also be keno lottery tickets sold online. A few states offer instant games. These are meant to mimic scratch-off lottery tickets and play like online slots. These games are all regulated by the state lotteries that sell the tickets.
Some states allow third parties to purchase tickets for players. Jackpocket is an example of this type of company. Third-party lotto resellers are rarely licensed to operate in the states where they sell tickets.
Online horse and greyhound racing
Horse and greyhound racing bets are accepted online. These games fall into three regulatory categories. Some states regulate mobile racing apps through the same commission that oversees live racing. In many other states, betting apps operate without licensing based on their interpretation of state law and the Horseracing Act of 1978. Most apps in these categories use pari-mutuel pools.
There are also offshore companies that accept racing bets. These betting sites use fixed odds. They do not have access to pari-mutuel pools. The racebook handles the bet and accepts the risk. Future bets do not affect ones already booked like they would in a pari-mutuel pool. These sites are unregulated.
Online sports betting
Online sports betting is legal in about half of the states. In most situations where online sports betting is approved by the state legislature, casino regulators oversee the industry. In a few cases, it is the state lottery.
These regulatory bodies handle background checks, licensing, and player complaints. However, one of the biggest complaints from players is that their problems are not resolved properly because the regulators side with the sportsbooks when it comes to unpaid bets and slashed limits.
Offshore sportsbooks are not licensed in the states where they operate. In most cases, there isn’t one in the country where they are based.
Online casinos
Online casino games are only licensed and regulated in Connecticut, Delaware, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and West Virginia. In these states, the regulators are either the state lottery or casino gaming commissions.
Online casino games are available in most other states. However, these are unregulated. There is no licensing process or third-party software testing. That generally does not matter as the major online casino sites have operated for over 20 years. This experience and financial strength make these sites as safe as licensed ones in most cases.
Online poker
Online poker is licensed in Delaware, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. This form of regulated online gambling is the biggest mess of them all. WSOP is a rogue site that does whatever it wants. We’ve written extensively about its poor management and vindictive behavior. We wonder how it can keep its gaming licenses after all that has been exposed. WSOP.com is not a safe poker site, in our opinion.
While other regulated poker sites are safer, there is little action due to the mostly intrastate industry. The player pools are too small.
There are several US-facing poker sites that are unregulated. Most states are accepted by these sites. Some have been online for 20 years. The player pools are healthy. Site security ensures the games are safe. Online poker is a segment where regulation means little when it comes to safety.
Daily fantasy sports contests
One of the earliest forms of legalized online gaming was daily fantasy sports contests. The 2006 Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act exempted these types of contests. While some states considered it gambling, it is believed that it fell under skill gaming in most jurisdictions.
Daily fantasy sports contests differ from sports betting because a participant picks individual players to form a team, as opposed to picking a team to win or cover a point spread. As legalized sports betting spread, many states enacted specific legislation that legalized daily fantasy sports contests.
Sweepstakes sites
One of the newest online gambling formats is related to sweepstake sites. Players receive free coins for creating an account and logging into the site every day. Sweepstake coins are awarded based on the amount of time played. These coins may be redeemed for cash.
These games are unregulated. They fall under sweepstake laws. They do not consider themselves to be gambling sites in the legal sense, though the games tend to be slots and blackjack.
Social gaming
Social gaming has purchases to increase play. For example, a social poker site allows players to purchase millions of chips to throw around tables. Social gaming sites don’t allow cash redemptions. Some allow players to redeem special coins for prizes.
Skill gaming
Skill gaming sites allow players to compete against each other. The site takes a large portion of the prize pool. It is sometimes as much as 40%, making it difficult to win money. Examples of skill games include duplicate card games like spades, bridge, and hearts where players get the same cards and try to get the highest score against bots of an equal skill level. Trivia and puzzle contests are other examples of skill gaming.
