There is an ongoing debate in gambling circles regarding the comparative benefits of playing in a land-based casino as opposed to an online casino.  This argument is once again surfacing as the United States Congress ponders the gambling bill before it submitted by Barney Frank (D-MA).  One of the important players to the passage of this bill is the senior Senator from the gambling haven of the , Senator Harry Reid of Nevada .  The land-based casino lobby is a powerful one, representing the casinos, the American Gaming Association, and other powerful national politicians who receive major political contributions from gaming interest groups.

Harry Reid, who is the Majority Leader of the Senate, has expressed concern about the effectiveness of the gambling bill.  He seems to be hedging on this issue as the major casino empires in Las Vegas appear to be ready to jump into the online casino industry.  Harrah’s has already made the first move, and other mega-casino corporations are soon to follow.

There are many advantages for gamblers to participate in online gambling, as opposed to gambling in the old-fashioned brick and mortar casinos.  There is the obvious convenience factor to consider since you can gamble online from just about anywhere at anytime.  In today’s economic recession that has spread globally, the money saved by gamblers on the travelling costs, food and lodging, tips and other amenities that you incur when you visit land-based casinos is considerable.

There are also a few other benefits to online casino gambling that sometimes go unnoticed.  First of all, all online casinos offer you incentives in the form of free bonus money. You get money added to your account for simply making your first deposit with the online casino.  In some instances, this bonus can represent up to 200-300% of your initial investment.  Land-based casinos, though you can once in awhile extract a free room, free tickets or a meal from them, do not have the ability to match the online casino offerings, because of the overhead involved in managing the land-based casino.

The second factor is the protection afforded by online casinos.  You can play free casino games on free casino sites if you are low on cash.  Additionally, there generally is a limit on credit card expenditures, so that online casinos usually have a self-imposed gambling limit of $2,500 a day.  If you gamble regularly, you are protected from overspending.  There are no such protections in land-based casinos.arry   

The benefits derived from online gambling outweigh the drawbacks at this time.  The politicians need to see the whole picture, and not just the smoke and mirrors placed before them.