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Despite its complex legal landscape, the United States is still the biggest market in the world for online gambling. Americans are said to spend upwards of four billion dollars a year at gambling sites. It’s no surprise that there are hundreds of online casinos out there competing for your business.
As nice as it is to have options, it can also be a pain to sort through so many casinos and find the one that works right for you. Choosing the right place to play is the most important part of getting started. If you get this part right, the rest is easy. So take a little time, do it right and pick a casino that has your best interests at heart.
Here are our top picks in terms of safety and quality:
Safety First
Safety should always be your number one priority when choosing a place to play. With gambling sites located all over the world, there is no single, overarching governing body. The whole business revolves around trust and reputation.
Here at GamblingSites.net, we do our due diligence before we recommend a site to our readers. We draw upon our own experiences, check up on the history of each site and ask around to see what types of experiences other people have had. Only after we are satisfied with everything do we make a recommendation.
Once you establish the safety and reputation of a casino, you can move on to other things such as game selection, software, bonuses and promotions. But safety is always first. Nothing else can make or break or the experience like the safety factor can.
Some of the other factors we look at when rating casinos include the following:
- Bonuses: Does the casino give you extra money in return for signing up and depositing?
- Promotions: The best casinos have constant promos that give you extra gambling dollars, free spins at the slot machines and more
- Game Selection: How many games does the casino have on offer?
- Software: Is the software stable? Does it look nice? Are the games fair?
- Deposit Options: How easy is it to fund your gambling account?
- Withdrawals: Is it easy to withdraw your money when you win?
- Customer Support: Does the casino respond quickly to questions? Do you get personalized answers that are relevant to your question?
Legality of Online Gambling in the US
The legal situation in the United States is constantly shifting so we’ll keep this brief. The main thing to know is that there is no federal law against gambling online in the United States. A few individual states have laws on the books that prohibit gambling, but it appears these laws are not enforced. To date, no American has ever been prosecuted for placing a bet on the internet.
The laws that are enforced are those that prohibit you being in the business of gambling. That means you cannot run your own online casino or have a business that processes payments for gambling sites. These laws apply only to those on the business side of things so if you’re just a regular gambler, this part of the law doesn’t impact you.
In more promising news, the US appears to be warming up to the idea of legalizing online gambling. Several states have already passed laws that legalize online gambling and poker. Nevada, Delaware and New Jersey, for example, all have state-approved gambling sites that operate with the blessing of the state.
Things appear to be improving for gamblers in the United States. Some states have already legalized online gambling and others are in the process of doing so. The demand is there. We feel that it’s only a matter of time before the majority of the country legalizes all aspects of online gambling.
How Can Some Sites Still Accept US Players?
You may be wondering how some sites can still accept customers from states in which online gambling is prohibited. The answer is in the location. Offshore gambling sites operate in full accordance of the laws where they are located. In those countries, there are no prohibitions against online gambling.
The United States maintains the position that offshore gambling sites violate US law. Offshore casinos insist that they are following all laws in their home countries. They feel no obligation to the laws of distant countries.
And if you think about it, those offshore sites do have a point. Why should a legal business in Antigua feel any obligation to the laws of a foreign power? It would be ridiculous to expect every nation to implement the laws of every other nation.
The US and other countries have been debating this back and forth in front of the World Trade Organization (WTO) for years now. The WTO actually ruled against the USA several years ago, but the US has so far refused to comply with the ruling.
In other words, it’s a big, complicated legal mess. What matters for you is that there are plenty of legitimate online casinos that you can play at right now. All you have to do is pick a site, create an account and make a deposit.
