ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) -- Internet gambling is slowly growing - but not expanding - after 2 1/2 years of online betting in the United States.
Online gambling revenue is increasing in at least two of the three states that currently offer it - New Jersey and Delaware. The third, Nevada, doesn't report Internet revenue separately.
But a hoped-for wave of expansion has not happened as many states sit on the sidelines and assess the costs and benefits of the nascent industry.
"Internet gambling revenue in Delaware, Nevada and New Jersey badly missed initial forecasts, which themselves were overly aggressive," said Chris Krafcik, research director for Gambling Compliance, which tracks gambling legislation nationwide.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's administration, for example, had initially estimated Internet gambling would bring in $1 billion in its first year. It did about 12 percent of that.
"The negative P.R. that resulted, fair or not, really took the wind out of the expansionary sails," Krafcik said.
San Francisco-based Gambling Compliance predicts either California or Pennsylvania will approve Internet gambling next year, followed by New York and Mississippi in subsequent years. In 2016, the group projects, nine states will consider legalizing it, though not necessarily act to approve it.
The industry still faces some nagging issues, as well as looming threats - including an effort in Congress to ban Internet gambling nationwide. The Restoration of America's Wire Act has been introduced in both chambers this year, backed by billionaire casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, and could come up for a hearing next month.
New Jersey began offering Internet gambling on Nov. 25, 2013, and took in $122 million in its first full year. Over the first 10 months of this year, the Atlantic City casinos have already equaled that total, with their Internet gambling revenue up 17.6 percent from the same period last year.
Delaware won $1.4 million in fiscal year 2014; $1.8 million in 2015, and $500,000 so far this fiscal year, which runs from July through June.
Nevada stopped reporting Internet gambling revenue as a separate item at the end of 2014. Online poker, the only brand of online gambling Nevada offers, is just a drop in the bucket of the state's $11 billion gambling market.
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