In the 1990s, online gambling was a popular form of entertainment. This was seen as a way around government regulations. Operators could set up shop in offshore jurisdictions and allow anyone with a web browser to gamble online. It was possible for anyone to find these sites and place bets. Several years passed before the government began exploring online gambling regulations. Although the current laws are relatively lenient, many people still lose money and become addicted to this activity.

While most states have legal gambling, not all of them allow it. There are a few challenges to setting up regulators. For instance, in states like Utah, establishing a gambling law is difficult. In addition, some states simply do not have the money to regulate the industry. In Hawaii, there is no gambling regulation in place, and residents fear that gambling will disrupt the family atmosphere and bring unwanted visitors to their island. In other states, however, online gaming is widely available.

The popularity of online gambling has exploded in recent years, with the number of websites increasing by more than 500 per year. As of 2014, there were fifteen online gambling websites. By 1998, there were over two hundred. In 1998, the first online poker rooms were introduced. The Internet Gambling Prohibition Act was proposed by the US Senate, which would have banned the activity. A similar law was proposed in the UK in 2005. In 2007, the online gambling industry began to grow quickly.