Morgan Stanley Predicts Online Gambling Market in the U.S. Will Skyrocket
Morgan Stanley, a firm specializing in global financing, asset management, credit services, and securities, shared its predictions for the U.S. Gambling market recently. The prediction is that by 2024 online gambling revenues in the United States will top $9.3 billion. Per Morgan Stanley, this is a "conservative market estimate." This means that online gambling could easily top the amount of revenue currently brought in in the largest gambling cities - Atlantic City and Las Vegas.
After Nevada passed legislation legalizing online gambling for residents of its state, it's not surprising that the number of states looking for follow in Nevada's shoes keep growing. At the time of this writing, the following states have either started to get the ball rolling to legalize online gambling or are starting to discuss the benefits of legalization.
- California
- Delaware
- Hawaii
- Illinois
- Iowa
- Massachusetts
- Mississippi
- Nevada
- New Jersey
- New York
- Pennsylvania
First States to Pass Online Gambling
Delaware, Nevada, and New Jersey are the first states to make online gambling legal. Nevada jumped ahead of other states and opened its first online casino, UltimatePoker.com, in May 2013 after receiving permission to launch a field trial. This field trial, approved by the Gaming Control Board in Nevada, will last one month.
CEO Tobin Prior said that in the first day the website had thousands of player registrations and many deposits with the casino cashier. After just a few days, the 100,000th hand had been dealt. At this point, UltimatePoker's officials are not stating how much money was made in the first week of business, but it appears the site's debut week was an impressive success.
Update:
We regret to inform you that Ultimate Poker has ceased online poker operations in Nevada effective Monday, November 17, at 12PM (Noon) PST, 2014.