Internet Casinos to be Closed?

#1
WASHINGTON (Reuters)—The U.S. House Judiciary Committee approved legislation on Thursday aimed at banning Internet gambling, an estimated $12 billion industry.

The measure would update and expand existing law to cover all forms of interstate gambling in the United States and would bar a gambling business from accepting payment in the form of credit cards, checks, wire and Internet transfers.

It would also prohibit gambling on an estimated 2,300 Internet gambling sites, many run by offshore companies, and also require banks to block gambling transactions by customers, which the industry has argued would be difficult to identify.
 

KenSmith

Administrator
Staff member
#6
yellowjacket said:
isnt internet gambling already banned?
No, that's why they keep trying and trying to pass a ban at the federal level. If you're not betting on sports (which violates the Federal Wire Act), and your state hasn't passed a law against internet gambling, it's not currently prohibited.

Of course, the US Justice Department will tell you just the opposite, claiming that the Federal Wire Act applies to casino-style gambling online as well. However, the courts have ruled just the opposite on a couple of occasions.
 

WABJ11

Well-Known Member
#7
What scares me is how they intend to enforce this law. Being a resident in WA, it scares me to think what type of police state or 1984 type system the state government would use. This law is completely contradictory because gambling is legal in WA state. There are casinos everywhere, which the government taxes to make money. Obviously this law was passed to eliminate internet competition which is not taxed. America has the best government money can buy...
 
#8
Anyone know where we can find the laws on this as far as what is in effect now, and what is likely to come in the future..... In other words, since this was recently passed, how will this effect online gambling now in the US?

Also what are the laws for those who promote gambling but do not actually run the online casino....
I did just find this which was pretty interesting but still leaves much for discussion:
http://www.gambling-law-us.com/Articles-Notes/advertising-online-casinos.htm
 
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RBJ

New Member
#9
Banning internet gambling

There are always ways around it. It they ban internet gambling in the US, via means of forcing banks to disallow their customers to use credit cards on casino sites, then we have many other options to send funds to these online casinos:
  • Western union
  • moneygram
  • Offshore debit cards / credit cards
  • Moneybookers
  • and the list goes on...
The US government are surely fighting a losing battle.
 

mgcasinos

Well-Known Member
#10
greyghost said:
The measure would update and expand existing law to cover all forms of interstate gambling in the United States and would bar a gambling business from accepting payment in the form of credit cards, checks, wire and Internet transfers.
Some online payment(neteller,click2pay) will instead of these traditional payment.
 

ranran

Well-Known Member
#11
Column: Online gamblers can face the law

By Michael P. Regan, AP Business Writer | July 25,
2006

Q. Can I get in trouble for gambling on the Internet?

A. Despite the recent high-profile indictments of the
founder and CEO of Internet gambling company
BetOnSports PLC, it does not appear that online
gamblers in most U.S. states have any reason to fear
prosecution -- at least not by the federal government.

The exception is Washington State, where gamblers
could be charged with a felony under recently passed
legislation.

The state's gambling commission has promised not to
start an active campaign against regular players.
However, if a gambling site's records are seized,
players whose names appear in the records likely will
be sent a warning letter. "If a player's name
reappears again, charges may be filed," a newsletter
from the commission warns.

But when it comes to federal criminal charges,
individual users of gambling sites have not been
targeted for several reasons, including questions over
whether or not they are even breaking the law,
according to Gary Kashar, a partner in the New York
office of the law firm White & Case who has clients in
the gambling industry.

"The Wire Act -- the primary U.S. law used in the
prosecution of Internet gambling -- refers to engaging
in the 'business' of betting or wagering itself, and
it's not clear that this applies to individual
gamblers," he said. "There are also practical and
political reasons to go after large companies as
opposed to individual citizens."

Instead, the government has tried to put up some
roadblocks to stop people from gambling on computers
based in the U.S.

Financial institutions agreed to stop allowing the use
of credit cards for online gambling a few years ago as
part of settlements with New York Attorney General
Eliot Spitzer. So these days, online gamblers in the
U.S. typically use offshore payment systems like
Neteller or Firepay and gamble with impunity.

Still, the federal judge in the BetOnSports case sent
gamblers a clear message regarding how her court feels
about users of the sites. A restraining order filed in
the case told the company to post this message on all
its Web sites accessible in the U.S.: "It is a
violation of United States law to transmit sports
wagers or betting information to this web site from
the United States. If you have a wagering account with
the operators of this web site, please call (toll free
number) to arrange a refund."

BetOnSports has since shut down its Web sites, though
the message promising the refund has yet to appear.

Experts also point out that you are still on the hook
for federal income tax on your winnings. And U.S.
gamblers need to be aware that since every Internet
gambling site is based in another country, they do not
have the same legal rights as they do when dealing
with a company incorporated in the United States.

"If you're going to bet, you have to be aware that you
may not have all of the enforcement remedies that you
have when you go to a land-based casino. But that's a
reason, obviously, to only gamble with a site that you
have trusted and that has a record of making its
payments to users," said attorney Ken Dreifach, the
former chief of Spitzer's Internet Bureau and now a
partner at Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP in New
York.

Proponents of legalized online gambling also warn that
more crackdowns by the federal government could bring
more obstacles to U.S. gamblers and push the
$12-billion-a-year industry into shady territory.

"The further the U.S. government pushes this
underground, the more chance you have of getting
organized crime involved in some of this stuff," said
Radley Balko, a policy analyst with the Cato Institute
in Washington, D.C.
 
#13
E-town-guy said:
I'm lucky I still live in Canada. If you get banned I'll make sure to share some of my bonus money with you guys ;)
Me too. But Canada eventually follows the US. It may just be a matter of time, but we probably at least have a few more years. I am sure there will still be ways around the whole online gambling thing.
 

E-town-guy

Well-Known Member
#14
bankrollboost said:
Me too. But Canada eventually follows the US. It may just be a matter of time, but we probably at least have a few more years. I am sure there will still be ways around the whole online gambling thing.
I doubt Canada will follow suit since I doubt the US will pass this law or if it does get passed it will create a huge uproar and the majority of people will continue to do it anyway. It will be like the bootlegging days all over again!!
 

dacium

Well-Known Member
#16
The law will mean nothing. An american company cannot accept the payment. All the big guys like partygaming etc aren't even americian based for the gambling parts.

Online gambling has been totally illegal in australia for ages, yet we can all play because all the overseas companies happily take our credit cards.
 
#17
US Gambling Laws

I can't believe the US government wants to say what we can and can't do on the internet in the privacy of our own homes. C'mon, The government runs the lottos and everything is fine with gambling on the lotto - you know what the odds are on winning the lotto? Yet our government wants to protect us from what they percieve as "crooked" online gaming. We are all adults and can make our own decisions thank you very much.
 
#18
Americans can still play blackjack on line

If you use NETeller or FirePay instead of a credit card, you can still play blackjack at:
(Dead link: http://www.NBCcasino.com)
Your winnings get deposited directly into your checking account, instead of being credited to your credit card account.
 
#19
From the website of PartyPoker...

"The United States Congress has passed a bill that seeks to prevent you from playing cash poker online. If, as expected, that bill is signed into law by President Bush on Friday 13th October many of your favorite sites will cease taking deposits and wagers from American players and that includes your very favorite - PartyPoker.com. "

Partygaming has stated they will shut down all accounts from American based players.. So even if you could use other means for transferring money, you will not be allowed to make wagers on the site with a US address.
 
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