In Europe, particularly the UK, there has always been a strong thirst for access to online gambling options. Online sportsbooks have been operating since the mid-1990s with online casino gambling hitting full stride several years later.
After throwing online horse race betting, poker rooms, lotteries, and even online bingo, it becomes clear that Europeans enjoy this fine form of online adult entertainment.
One would think Americans would have a similar thirst, and for the most part, they do. Online horse race betting and poker rooms have been around for over a decade. Likewise with online lotteries in many states.
More recently in 2019, online sports betting and casino gambling have become the rage. Millions of American online gamblers are thrilled to have transitioned from using UK sites that offer UK no deposit bonus codes to U.S. sites that offer similar bonus codes.
What about online bingo?
Why No Online Bingo in America?
If a U.S. resident wants to play online bingo through a UK online bingo site, they won’t have much difficulty finding operators that will accept their business. After all, offshore bingo playing is not illegal in the U.S.
Of course, U.S. online bingo players do have to be cautious about how they fund their offshore bingo accounts. Why? U.S. federal law (the Unlawful Internet Gambling Act of 2006) does not permit the use of credit/debit cards and wires to fund offshore gambling accounts of any kind. However, the law is seldom enforced.
The fact U.S. residents can use offshore bingo sites begs the question, “Why is online bingo not allowed in the U.S.?” To provide a reasonable answer to this question, it’s necessary to take a closer look at the overall gambling landscape in America. Doing so will point to three key reasons (see below) why online bingo is not a thing in the U.S.
1. All bingo is technically illegal in the U.S.
Shockingly, playing bingo in the U.S. is technically illegal in all 50 states. To the folks who go to church bingos on a regular basis, you are not breaking the law.
Many states have carved out a part of the law that allows bingo play as long as the net proceeds are being directed to charitable causes.
Hence, that’s why a great majority of the nation’s “bingo nights” are held in churches or facilities that are being rented by charitable organizations.
It would be remiss to not mention that U.S. Indian Tribes are permitted to run bingo games as long as it’s done on Indian land.
It is also noteworthy that as many as 10 states do not permit any form of bingo play for any reason.
2. U.S. regulator avoidance
For any form of gambling to be legal in the U.S., there have to be government regulations in place to guide and rule over such activities.
It’s complicated in the U.S. because each state has the power to control all forms of gambling within its own state boundaries.
That means 50 states have 50 different approaches to gambling regulation. In states like Utah and Hawaii, there might never be any form of gambling allowed outside of lotteries.
To date, no state government has spent any time looking at creating regulations related to online bingo. In fact, the federal government still isn’t sure whether playing bingo should be classified as gambling.
The notion they can’t decide how to categorize online bingo has led the federal government and each state to simply avoid the issue altogether.
3. The demand for online bingo in the U.S. is negligible
One of the key reasons why regulators have shown no interest in taking up the issue of online bingo is a seeming lack of demand for such activities.
If citizens aren’t screaming for it, why would regulators bring it up when so many other issues are more important? They won’t!
This has been proven based on what has transpired in recent years with online sports betting and casino gambling. When residents got loud enough about their desire for such activities, the federal government, through the U.S. Supreme Court, overturned the nation’s ban on sports and online gambling.
Each state was left to decide for itself what to allow. Each state has done exactly that based on what their voters have wanted.
This still begs the question, “Why no online bingo?” The answer is simple. There is not much appetite for any kind of bingo in the U.S.
Honestly, most U.S. bingo enthusiasts are seniors who have nothing better to do on a Wednesday or weekend night. They like socializing at the local church while playing bingo. They also happen to be the most unlikely people to participate in any form of gambling over the Internet.
Will online bingo ever come to America? If it does, it’s years away.
