Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner: Should Louisiana Ante Up to Legalize and Regulate Online Gambling?

Oct. 20, 2014
By Stephen G. Collura, Jr., Senior Editor

We do almost everything on the Internet today. People use the Internet to make purchases, play games, watch movies, and even conduct research for pieces of scholarship. In fact, you are using the Internet to read this article right now. However, if you are in Louisiana, or any state besides Nevada, your other open Internet pages cannot be displaying your winning hand in an online poker game.

In reaction to the wave of Internet gambling[1] that came about during the late 1990s, Congress and several state legislatures, including Louisiana, passed statutes criminalizing online gambling.[2] Although other countries around the world initially took this approach, the United States remains one of the last developed countries to continue to hold steadfast against online gambling[3]—the exceptions being Nevada, New Jersey, and Delaware.[4]  Many parts of the world have proven that a system of regulation, as opposed to a complete ban, can be successful while still providing protection to participants.[5]

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