Federal Law Makes It a Crime to Bet Online

Yep, the feds can come after anyone involved in online gambling practices, and that has almost completely stifled the Internet gaming industry, shutting off a number of sites’ access to the lucrative US market. So while there remains a high interest in online gambling, especially for games like poker, the law clearly makes it a crime to transfer money over the Internet for the purposes of gambling. Modeled after other gambling regulation legislation, the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) attacked the money as it crossed over certain boundaries, which made taking bets through cyberspace virtually impossible.

Smart Sites and Players Find a Way

In the face of the federal government’s anti-Internet gaming laws, some online casino and poker sites simply shut down. But some schemed to devise a way around the legalese of the national law. So instead of transferring money for gambling, some sites offered visitors the ability to purchase credits or some other sort of unit of value, which could then be used to make bets. Other sites have developed simple fantasy leagues for games like poker, where the money is all fake. But rest assured, intrepid gamers in seek of gambling can inevitably find something online. Whether it is illegal or not according to the federal law is a sticky question that is often up for interpretation.

Where Does the Law Stop?

Many think the federal status of online gambling in the US could cause problem for the rest of the gaming world. If a foreigner wants to move money from his offshore bank account into another international bank that makes deposits on his behalf, but he uses a computer in the US to do it, should it be illegal under the spirit of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Act? Is the user or the site liable? What about the bank? These types of questions hound those in the online gaming industry, and the industry and the government still have a long way to go to find the right solutions and implement regulatory systems that make sense for everyone.

After my last blog post called “Are you prepared to lose?” posted on 4 Feb, I have received a number of requests to say more about responsible gambling.

I think that everyone should do their part if they want to see gambling laws lifted.  It is because people have not gambled with responsibility, that laws have been put in place to control gambling.

There are organisations that are getting together to oppose the UIGEA and other anti-gambling State law.  These organisations should also be working on the cleaning up of the gambling image and ensuring people take responsibiliy when they gamble.

I believe that all casinos and all online casinos should support responsible gambling programs.  Users should be monitored for signs of abuse and excess.  They should have the necessary specialists to call on and council people if required.

Do you look to see if the site that you are playing blackjack on, supports responsible gambling?  You should do this and then only support the sites that support responsible gambling.

We have to take the first step and show that we are responsible citizens.  It is no good just leaving it to the government or to someone else.  Its someone else’s problem, or someone else is to blame…

I would like to officially say that Mastering Blackjack fully supports the need for responsible gambling and so should everyone in the gambling industry.