|
Online
Gambling Legislation/History
Until
recently, gambling legislation in the United
States had not changed much since Congress
passed the Wire Act in 1961. This, however, only
covered sports betting and not casinos. There
was also no World Wide Web or Internet Casinos
during those days.
Legalized Internet Gambling began in 1994 when
the twin-islands Antigua and Barbuda in the
Caribbean passed the Free Trade & Processing
Act, allowing licenses to be given to companies
for opening online casinos. Legal casino betting
continued to evolve through 1996, when the
Kahnawake Gaming Commission was formed. As a
regulatory branch of the Mohawk Territory of
Kahnawake in Quebec, Canada, they began policing
and issuing licenses to worldwide legal online
casinos and poker rooms. This marked the first
attempt to regulate legal U.S. online betting by
providing fair and transparent operations.
In 1997 online gambling had exploded in
popularity, with about 225 websites offering
online casinos, up significantly from just over
a dozen such websites in earlier years. The
Frost and Sullivan market research report showed
that way back in 1998, legal online betting
revenues had reached over $800 million globally.
Legal poker betting also began to appear on the
Internet in 1998. Interactive multiplayer world
wide web gambling began a year later, allowing a
community type of experience, with the ability
to chat with other players. Measures to control
land-based casinos in the past have worked as
the casino had a physical location. However,
today casinos have moved online with no real
physical location. The question arises how legal
are these online casinos?
.
In 1998 both MasterCard and Visa sued Cynthia
Haines for money she lost while gambling on an online
casino. She had lost more than
US$70,000 to an online casino and could not
settle her account with the plaintiffs. She
filed a counterclaim well within the state laws
of California, which prohibited credit card
loans for gambling whether it is online casinos
or bricks and mortar casinos. That case was
settled out of court. Many states have now
enacted their own legislation, however, casinos
continue to move their gambling operations off
shore to online casino friendly countries.
Gambling has increased drastically with the
advent of the Internet and online casinos. With
huge profits and vested interest in casinos
there are also very strong lobbyists in
government to keep gambling unimpeded. The
Internet Gambling Prohibition Act, which was
defeated in 2000, shows how much vested interest
there is in the casino and gaming industry.
Cyberspace is the last frontier when it comes to
laws governing casinos. With billions of dollars
changing hands around the world on online
gambling today, sooner or later legislation will
be needed in order to exercise some form of
control in this ongoing Internet casino
industry. Only time will tell how long it
will take for US legislation to catch-up with
online casinos and all forms of Internet
gambling.
So, is Online
Gambling Legal in the United States?
This is the one question that you will surely
see answered in at least a half dozen different
ways while searching the Internet.
What you should know at this time is that most
types of online gambling are not illegal in any
way for the player as all the liability falls
with the gambling operators. The Unlawful
Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) that
passed in 2006 simply made it illegal for
gambling sites to accept money from U.S.
residents for the purpose of wagering. But since
the U.S. has no jurisdiction over offshore
gambling enterprises, they simply ask that banks
deny any potential transactions with those
operators. In doing so, U.S. residents do have a
bit harder time finding a viable deposit method
such as credit cards like MasterCard, Visa,
Discover, etc. Since then, Online Casinos have
made it very easy for a player to deposit money.
They generally offer several different deposit
options.
There are currently many changes going on with
online gambling laws in the U.S., and if you are
truly worried about the legalities you need to
be sure to check the exact laws in your state
before you gamble. Some states including
Delaware, New Jersey & Las Vegas, NV have
actually legalized online gambling. Residents
from those states & possibly others in the
near future will want to make sure to use those
gambling sites that are regulated by the state
in which they live.
The best news we can tell all American players
to make them feel somewhat better about gambling
online is the fact that no U.S. residents has
ever gone to jail or has even been fined for
participating in this activity. What are they
going to do? Arrest millions of people who
every year in America?
Fact is, if it were truly an unlawful act, don't
you think they would actually physically stop
residents from visiting these sites? You can
click any banner on this site and there will be
nothing stopping you from going to these sites
or signing up for an account unless the website
itself forbids it.
For the foreseeable future it seems as though
Internet gambling in the US will continue to
proliferate on a state-by-state basis, before a
federal law is finally passed. Be assured, a
number of politicians, lawyers and professional
lobbyists are continuing the fight for virtual
gaming to be made legal across the United States
of America.
Evon Freda
|
|
