USA Online Casinos Fighting Hard for Legislation

Online gambling in the USA has been on legal ground that is open to various interpretations ever since an appeals court ruling in 2002. In November of that year, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled that the Federal Wire Act prohibited electronic transmission of sports betting information across telecommunications lines. However, it also affirmed a lower court ruling that the Wire Act does not prohibit Internet gambling on games of chance. This spared USA online casinos from having to stop operations, but only temporarily.

In 2006, before adjourning for midterm elections, both houses of Congress passed an amendment to an unrelated bill, the SAFE Port Act, that made transactions from banks or similar institutions to online gambling sites illegal. Signed into law in October 2006 by President George W. Bush, the law had the effect of causing numerous online gambling operators to suspend real money gambling for US customers.

Legalizing online gambling in the US flat out has been a constant battle ever since. Within the US, some states have seriously considered passing intrastate gambling online laws, which would permit online gambling only within those states. In November 2010, New Jersey became the first state to pass an intrastate online gambling bill through both houses of its state legislature. As of this writing, it awaits the signature of New Jersey governor Chris Christie.

New Jersey’s bill is unique among state online or internet gambling laws not only because it is the first to pass, but because it allows gamblers in other countries, but not in other states of the US, to participate in the state’s online gambling sites. Internet gambling operators in New Jersey must be licensed Atlantic City casino operators, and all equipment used for conducting Internet gaming must be located in casinos in Atlantic City or at other secure Atlantic City locations.

What does New Jersey’s law mean for online casino USA operations? At the moment, not much. However, it does send the strong signal that clarification of the legality of gambling online in the US is on many people’s minds. Online gambling enthusiasts in the USA, who have had to undertake rather labyrinthine measures to ensure they are handling money legally, are strong proponents of national legislation, as are some Congressional representatives, and many land-based casinos.

The arguments for making online gambling clearly legal in the US are also bolstered by the enormous tax revenues that could be realized by such legislation – a very appealing source of revenue in an economy where the federal government is currently running enormous deficits.

Currently, USA online casino enthusiasts concerned about the numerous international sites that have shut themselves off to players from the US have to use independent money transfer businesses to fund their online gaming. The most prominent online casinos have clear directions on how to do this, and many of them are open to gamblers in the US.

Players themselves have little to fear from US online gambling laws (or lack thereof). U.S. Attorneys have admitted that placing wagers online is not against federal law. It may sometimes run afoul of state la

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HR 6663 and the Current Online Gambling USA Regulation Status

After the unfortunate demise of bill HR 5767 from Barney Frank, a series of interesting events have swamped the USA online gambling situation. Several gaming giants such as the “Party” brand started to complain to the US government about the UIGEA (Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act). After this, the EU placed formal complaints to the USA regarding this same issue stating that making online gambling illegal in the US and having the IRS going after offshore betting company revenues was illegal under the current trade law (WTO agreements).

The pressure has been so strong on the government that even several congressmen have asked the IRS not to pursue these gaming operators such as Bodog which was recently on the news regarding an IRS conflict. Bill HR 6663 was introduced in order to help regulate this UIGEA enforcement, but there are several complaints as this bill is not as effective as the previous one (5767) according to the poker players alliance. It does not clearly decriminalize and make the government regulate the operation instead of stopping it completely as the previous one.

Congress has even come up with bills such as the Internet Study Gambling Act where government points out the positive and negative aspects of the industry in an attempt to effectively come up with a solution to this problem. This however will only begin to be studied in after the August break, in September. The fact of the matter remains that the Las Vegas lobby group urges its congressmen to make its clientele physically go and play at the Nevada based casinos rather than pay online with the European competition, and this is a major force in keeping the UIGEA bill current.

September will definitely play a part in the online gambling saga within the USA as congress comes back from the break and starts to deal with the EU, the WTO, the IRS, and the gambling study bill as well as HR 6663. What remains to be seen is if the government will actually change its laws or remain with this conflict for an even further period of time.

It is the personal view of the author of this article that the United States must lift the current UIGEA bill and make it obsolete, let competition come into the online gambling scene as well as provide local subsidies for US based brick and mortar casinos to compete online and then create an effective way to regulate the business in order to stop money laundering and make a huge profit out of the operations, as HR 5767 clearly stated that the government will outstandingly profit from this industry in the long term. It seems almost absurd that the government imposes how their citizens can use their personal income. If continents like Europe have been successfully controlling the industry for decades, why can’t the USA do the same?

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