Whether you enjoy a few spins of the roulette wheel, a quick blast on Call of Duty online, or simply enjoy tapping your way through a mobile game from time to time, all of the games that you play will be affected by American law. In some cases, there are laws to prohibit certain types of games, whilst in others, laws exist to protect the intellectual property of game makers. Of course, anybody looking to get involved in the gaming industry needs an experienced lawyer, just as they would in any other field. However, we’re still going to look at some of the most interesting gaming laws in America that exist for the safety of players and providers of online games.
Casino Laws
There’s a whole lot of history surrounding casino games and the law in America. Since the slot machine first came to the United States in 1894, there have been those who enjoyed playing it and those who opposed all machines of the sort. As it stands today, there are many states where online casinos are not legal, but a growing number where they are. At the moment, it is legal to play in six US states; Connecticut, Delaware, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. With that said, Illinois and Indiana have been campaigning to legalize online casinos for some time, so it’s highly likely that they will be added to that list in the next few years.
What makes this so interesting is that the US is one of the few countries in the world where there is such a discrepancy between online gaming and offline. For example, Las Vegas and Atlantic City have economies based almost entirely around casinos, so it’s unusual for online casinos to be outlawed in one state but not the other. Currently, live gaming is much easier to take part in, with many states where it’s legal to play in person. This poker tournament schedule features events in New York, Nevada, and Cincinnati, even though in two of those states it wouldn’t be legal to play online.
Intellectual Property
Anybody who is familiar with intellectual property (IP) law will know that there are many grey areas. However, one of the very murkiest is in new and emerging sectors. The gaming industry might feel as though it has been around forever, but it has taken a long time for IP law to catch up. Currently, the Office for Copyright in the United States clarifies that in the case of gaming, the following applies: ‘Copyright does not protect the idea for a game, its name or title, or the method or methods for playing it. Nor does copyright protect any idea, system, method, device, or trademark material involved in developing, merchandising, or playing a game.’
Considering how enormous the gaming market is in America, this might come as a surprise. However, it could be argued that those looking to make money from developing and selling games are likely to want to come up with a novel idea, or nobody will be interested. The difficulties come with mobile games that are simple to code and could be generating income for their creators, rather than their copiers. It’s clear to see that there are huge holes in this area of IP law
