The US gambling industry is just a mass of confusion and conundrums and a lot of US gamblers are having a hard time sussing out just where the federal government stands on the internet gambling issue. Offshore online casinos are banned from the US market as a part of the UIGEA and that is very clear and apparent. The US Department of Justice has come down very hard on any internet gambling companies that have continued to operate in the US market past the passage of the UIGEA. But now, states like Illinois have passed new gambling laws that seem to contradict the federal internet gambling policies. Although the State of Illinois didn’t pass the online casinos specifically, internet betting is now legal in the state and the race tracks are prepping for the introduction of extensive internet betting opportunities.

Illinois gamblers though are wondering just how the state is circumventing the US government’s very clear legislation that indicates that all US online casino gambling is illegal. Some states have begun to argue that gambling and betting within state borders is legal and not banned by the UIGEA or any federal level legislation. To that end, the state governor, Pat Quinn, signed the new bill that will allow horseracing tracks in the state to accept internet betting. Again, the online casinos do not play a part in this new legislation, it is just the horse racing industry in the state that are able to now offer internet betting.

The new legislation in effect in Illinois is also very careful to differentiate internet wagering from the online casinos. The state coined the term “advance deposit wagering” to indicate that all of the internet betting is merely an extension of the land betting and wagering that takes place at the horse racing tracks throughout the state.