I'm still in shock, to be honest. I asked my boss what this means for this website (meaning - my job) and he said my guess is as good as theirs. For the moment my guess is nothing will change. The port safety bill which includes the anti-internet gambling law should be signed within two weeks (and that was a week ago, so I guess it should be signed this week). Then Congress has 270 days to sort out the details. Is that 270 work days or is that including weekends? The details include what type of internet gambling is considered illegal, as well as how they will accomplish their goals in this law. For example, how will the banks sort through every transaction to be certain that no e-check is being deposited into an online gambling establishment? The lack of details regarding the legal ramifications of internet gambling doesn't bother Republican Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, “Although we can't monitor every online gambler or regulate offshore gambling, we can police the financial institutions that disregard our laws.” Well, in a way he's right, and in a way he's wrong. I mentioned that Congress needs to define what sort of internet gambling is illegal. That is actually only partially accurate. They have made sure that anything which is currently legal stays legal. What they have not done is define online casinos and poker rooms as illegal. The Department of Justice may have decided that it is all illegal, but the courts have disagreed with them. Congress didn't tamper with the 1961 Wire Act, and that is the only bit of legislation which stipulates which sort of gambling via wire is illegal (sports betting to be specific – pari-mutuel is the only sport which is legal to bet online). As such the internet gambling industry is left with a shred of hope. PartyPoker and other online gambling establishments have decided that walking that tightrope isn't worth it, and instead they would re-focus their efforts towards the East. Others are simply ignoring the new reality completely. Rather expectedly, there was nothing about the new legislation on the Microgaming site. Of course, this is a site which isn't particularly well updated anyhow (they save their time and effort to focus on amazing games instead). eCogra also neglects a mention. They could say that the new legislation doesn't really affect them, but as approximately 80% of the $12 billion dollar a year industry came from the US I have a strong feeling they will be feeling the repercussions in their pocket book. The American Gaming Association has been quiet on the whole issue. They released a statement earlier this year which basically said they would prefer to have a study done before banning internet gambling outright. However, they also qualified that statement by restating that they are neutral on the whole online gambling matter. Frank Fahrenkopf, the president of the American Gaming Association, thinks the bill isn't about the legality of internet gambling. “This bill did not make anything legal or illegal,” says Fahrenkopf. “What it did was affect the mechanism by which Internet gambling takes place…and there is some question as to whether or not that will be effective.” Which brings me to the bit of Frisk's statement which was wrong, the US can only control what is within their borders. As such if a company outside the US performed the actual deposit for the player, say they get an order for a player to deposit into such and such casino for such and such an amount, it would be legal. The person residing in the United States wouldn't be making the deposit directly. The other option is to use a third party deposit method, such as Neteller. Technically it is still possible from the bank point of view as the deposit wouldn't be from a US based institution into an online casino. On the other hand, it would be illegal from the players point of view due to the fact that the player resides in the US. Most likely the Justice Department will never use their time and resources to prosecute individuals in a victimless crime such as online gambling, but one never knows for certain. The online gambling industry never expected several executives to be arrested recently either. CNN.com had an interesting poll of their readership asking "Do you ever gamble online?" Almost 10,000 people responded (ok, it was 9,750). Most people have never gambled online, 66 percent to be exact. This is how this legislation was able to pass. This group couldn't care less whether it's legal or illegal to gamble online because it doesn't affect them. The 27% who gamble regularly, however, will probably care more – especially if they come from the United States. The remaining 8% who only gamble occasionally probably won't care much either. I have no way of knowing, how many of the people who responded to the poll are actually based in the US. Along with the poll CNN gave a list of interesting statistics. "$6.5 billion: The amount wiped off the value of online gambling shares on Monday after the U.S. Congress passed legislation to ban Internet gaming there. $12 billion: The estimated worldwide revenue from gambling online in 2005, according to a recent report by industry analysts Christiansen Capital Advisors. They also predicted the market will double in five years. 78: The percentage of revenue earned by UK-based gambling firm PartyGaming Plc, which runs the leading Internet poker site PartyPoker.com, currently generated from the U.S. 19 million: The number of customers who use PartyGaming, spending nearly $4 million a day. Shares in the company fell 58 percent Monday. $3.2bn: The estimated wealth of PartyGaming founder Anurag Dikshit, according to the Sunday Times Rich List. 1,700: The estimated number of gambling Web sites. 2.3: The percentage of people estimated to suffer from gambling addiction in Australia -- the highest figure in the world." What it doesn't tell us is the affect the new anti-internet gambling ban will have on US citizens or why the US feels it needs to become a nanny-state. Related Links: Posted on: October 8, 2006
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