Online Gambling Legal ?        Posted on 10/25/06

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Let me state at the beginning that I am not an attorney or a judge.  This article represents my humble opinion on this matter. 

This is the question that many online players have been asking over the last week since the Port Authority Bill was used to carry these  internet gambling laws across the finish line.  The Wall Street Journal did a poll and found that the overwhelming majority of Americans want online gambling legal even though just less than 10% of U.S. population places bets on the world wide web.  Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist attached this internet gambling measure on the Port Authority Bill after his attempt to attach it to the war funding bill failed.  Of course, this bill isn't without a large dose of exemptions such as horse racing and state lotteries. I guess the horse racing lobby is taking care of the folks on Capitol Hill and we can't ban state sponsored lotteries despite the fact that playing the lottery has been found to be prevalent among gambling addicts.  The important thing to remember is that the politicians have a tendency to pass more laws when they sense they can gain favor with certain constituents.  Of course many times there are existing laws on the books aren't being enforced.  For example, gun control laws and immigration laws represent areas where there are plenty of laws but there isn't adequate enforcement so additional laws are rendered practically mute.

For several years, there have been a couple politicians that have been pushing internet gambling laws but just last month the Congress passed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006.  On October 13th, it was signed into law by President Bush.  Many legal scholars state that internet gambling has been illegal for years and this is just one more law to try to restrict the money flowing from the gamblers to the online casinos.  As far as I can see, this law deals with banks transferring money to casinos directly through credit cards primarily.  I have tried to move funds to my gambling accounts via credit card and I found most of the banks already had prohibited this method of funding.  Many players, will transfer their funds into intermediary account such as NETeller or Click2Pay from their bank and then proceed to transfer from the intermediary account to their online casino account.  I don't see how this legislation is going to prohibit players from continuing to move funds via this method.

So is online gambling legal ?  That is a question that each individual will have to decide for themselves.  Gambling internet laws have been impacted by various legislation for years.  My opinion is that for most of us in the U.S. there will be fewer choices when it comes down to where do I play since several online poker rooms and online casinos have decided to no longer accept deposits from U.S. players.  Please note the ones that are still accepting U.S. deposits on the left hand side of this page.  The casinos mentioned in the left hand column are actually giving bonuses for people transferring money via NETeller or Click2pay.