The online casino gambling industry was a bit miffed this week when Obama finally gave a clear indication of his stance on land and internet gambling – at least a stance much clearer than the complete silence that he has maintained up until this point. With the economy still very much in a recession, there has been a lot of chatter and discussion about lightening the current bans and blocks related to the online casinos. Obama clearly stated that he will not consider this option as a way to stimulate the economy and create more jobs. The internet gambling industry has long held out a bit of hope that Obama would finally come out in support of new gambling regulations to counter the UIGEA…that is apparently just not going to happen.

The venue was very simple, a Q&A at a small college as a part of publicity, but this is the first time that Obama has really come out in plain English to state his intentions for the US gambling industry. The land gambling industry in the US is already pretty extensive, so his comments are particularly directed at the big debates right now to get online casinos regulated and legalized in the US. Obama’s very succinct comment on the issue was simply to answer “no” to a question from the audience about whether the presidenct would consider the legalization of certain victimless crimes, namely gambling, marijuana and prostitution. These three subjects were dismissed in one fell swoop, so it’s not like the president specifically spoke against the online casinos.

At the same time, there is a big movement in Congress to pass a bill that would counter the currently enforced UIGEA and instead legalize and regulate online casinos in the US market. Some supporters of the new bill fear that all of the work in Congress will be for naught if the president vetoes the efforts.