Question by Derek Smith: is the united states going to make online gambling legal?
I heard that they are very close to making online gambling legal is this true? I also heard if you live any were in the usa and get caught playing online for money you can get up to 5 years in jail. I heard this story that a college kid was playing online poker for money in his classroom and his teacher told the police he had to do 5 years in jail. So can you go to jail if you play online poker and live in the usa as of right now?
Best answer:
Answer by JackAce You can’t go to jail for playing poker online. No one has ever been arrested for playing poker online.
The House Financial Services Committee just passed Barney Frank’s Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection and Enforcement Act so, yes, they are one step closer to explicitly legalizing online poker at the federal level. Right now the legality is in a gray area, since poker is a game of skill.
Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!
Is online gambling legal in the US is probably the question on the mind of the majority of online gamblers. This particular question however is not a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer, as the question of is online gambling legal in the US is a complicated subject. The answer to this question would depend solely on one factor and that is the circumstances. Online gambling is divided into sections and each section has its own laws which would determine if the process is illegal or not, therefore this article is going to highlight a couple of these laws which may be able to answer our question.
Lets first deal with the players, there is no federal law which prevents individuals from playing online. A US lawyer stated in court that by simply placing wagers online was not illegal, however the players may run afoul of their state laws but that situation occurring is quite rare. There is in fact record of only one case of this happening – the individual was from North Dakota, however he only paid a small fine. The second section we would deal with is small ad publishers taking advertisements. Again just like the players these small publishers have little to fear. Even though there were cases whereby publishers were fined, it was only big name publishers like Yahoo and Google so even though they had a small fine to pay it did not affect them in any major way. As for the other smaller publishers they were simply warned, however they were not required to pay any fines. And of the small publishers there has been no record of them being warned to stop taking online gambling ads, so far. So far I have answered only part of the question of is online gambling legal in the US, so let’s continue right along.
The third section we will look at is the advertisers who promote their sport books in traditional media, for instance, magazines or billboards, can face scrutiny as operators. However sports books have never been scrutinized for advertising online. In addition, online casinos, affiliates and poker rooms have never faced any scrutiny for purchasing these ads, in any medium. The fourth section is the operators. These operators have no trouble once they are based outside the US, remain outside the US and deal specifically with casino / poker wages. Offshore sports books could face charges if they advertise on billboards or receive wagers by means of the telephone. So you can clearly understand now, why I mentioned at the beginning of my article that we can not give a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer to the question of is online gambling legal in the US.
In closing though there are a few things you must keep in mind about this article, it only focuses on the federal laws of the US, therefore you would need to find out the laws of whichever state you reside in. another point is the laws are constantly changing so you would need to be aware of the changes. Even though you are reading this article to seek information on the subject of is online gambling legal in the US you need to speak with a lawyer as I have only touched the surface of each section to give you a summarized version of the laws.
Sarah Harrigan is a professional casino player and reviewer. For straight talking honest advice on online gambling be sure to visit her website for comprehensive reviews on the best online casinos and winning casino strategies.
From e-tail purchases to possible new online gambling options, state governments are pushing to impose added Web taxes. CIO.com’s Bill Snyder explains how this could hit your wallet.
Nevada gaming companies see potential flush online
The race for Internet gambling riches may have turned in favor of Nevada-based casino operators that own some of the best-known brands in the business.
PartyGaming says deal with Bwin will create world’s biggest publicly listed internet gambling firm PartyGaming and its Austrian-based rival Bwin today announced plans for a merger that they say will create the world’s biggest publicly-listed online gambling company. The enlarged group, to be incorporated in Gibraltar and listed on the London Stock Exchange, would be worth .3bn (£2.1bn) at …
J Todd is back in the US with a whale of a show, including rumors of legalized online gambling in America! Also, industry news from the Czech Republic and an internet gaming arrest in Las Vegas!
Video Rating: 5 / 5
The war over the future of the online gambling industry heated up this week, as debate and dialogue not witnessed since the passage of the 2006 UIGEA raged in Washington. Get up to date on the latest headlines!
The ever popular question “is online gambling legal,” well first things first this is not a yes or no question. See everyone has been focusing on the fast growing gaming industry, but no one has stopped to think, is
online gambling legal. Therefore in this article I would attempt to lay out all the facts and see if we can come to a conclusion on the subject.
First things first let’s list the types of gambling you can engage in online. There is the ever popular poker along with other card games, you can place bets on sports or you can play games of chance for instance, roulette, craps, etc. so I have listed them, now in order to answer my question of is online gambling legal, we need to take a deeper look into them. Firstly poker and cards basically it looks like a perfectly fair game to play over the internet, as it is impossible for a computer to deal winning cards to one player as opposed to another, besides cards games are based on mostly strategy and skill with a small element of chance, therefore each player is allowed to control the out of each game they participate in. in the instance of placing bets on sports this is also legitimate as the computer can not control the outcome of a game. However when it comes to games of chances we can all agree that these should be banned although, because these games can be set so the player would win enough money to want to keep playing but the house would always be the one which profits the most.
According to the Wire Wager Act betting on sports is the only form of online wagering that is illegal. Therefore a simplified version of this section in the Wire Wager Act is “it is illegal for companies based in the US to take bets from Americans, to use the internet to accept bets on sports or other contests.” However the majority of these companies have moved their businesses offshore thus making it easier for them to operate without being prosecuted by the US government. So we have a small part of the answer to our question of “is online gambling legal” which is as follows, it is illegal to place bets for sports online, according to the Wire Wager Act.
So in closing lets lay out all the points we have listed and see if we have answered our question of “is online gambling legal.” Firstly, it is legal to host online casino and card games although the Department of Justice wants this to be changed. However, it is hard to say that online casino and cards games are legal in the US as majority of them operate from offshore. Even though the Government is trying to protect individuals from being scammed, despite this though gambling online should be made legal. However only under the following conditions: the US government should be able to regulate the online casino industry, and they should make it mandatory for all of the details for each company to be presented and a license should only be granted to the companies that meet the necessary requirements.
Sarah Harrigan is a professional casino player and reviewer. For straight talking honest advice on online gambling casinos be sure to visit her website for comprehensive reviews on the top online casinos and winning casino strategies.
www.onlinecasinoreports.com Poker player and activist Lee Rousso in an exclusive interview with Online Casino Reports talks about his upcoming court appearance in his challenge of the US internet gambling ban.
