Online poker may return to the US
Offline A Justice Department opinion dated September and made public on Friday reversed decades of previous policy that included civil and criminal charges against operators of some of the most popular online poker sites.Until now, the department held that online gambling in all forms was illegal under the Wire Act of 1961, which bars wagers via telecommunications that cross state lines or international borders.The new interpretation, by the department's Office of Legal Counsel, said the Wire Act applies only to bets on a "sporting event or contest," not to a state's use of the Internet to sell lottery tickets to adults within its borders or abroad."The United States Department of Justice has given the online gaming community a big, big present," said I. Nelson Rose, a gaming law expert at Whittier Law School who consults for governments and the industry.
http://www.newsdaily.com/stories/tre7bo0ha-us-internet-gambling/
Rejoice Americans, soon you will again be pokering with the world, who noticed your absence.
Enlightened Atheist, Gaming God.
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This isn't really that big of a deal, the justice department is simply adopting the position that it agrees with what the 5th Circuit already interpreted. http://pub.bna.com/eclr/1321a.htm It has little effect on the current moratorium on internet poker or the recent seizures other than perhaps a political play to make it look like the current administration is on the side of poker players. It doesn't change the fact that the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security seized most of the major sites nor does it make internet poker more legal. Justice department opinions don't change the law and there is nothing that stops them from changing their opinion tomorrow.
The main law preventing online poker is the UIGEA (Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act) which focuses on the financial side of "illegal gambling". Even removing all federal gambling with a magic wand the UIGEA could still be used to prosecute any site that collected money from an individual that was in violation of state laws. This means that a persons ability to gamble would depend on the gambling laws of their state. Assuming that poker sites could find a way to discriminate on players based on which state they live in enough as to avoid legal action, you also have the problem that in every state gambling is only allowed with a license. Gambling licenses are extremely difficult and expensive to get and in some states might be impossible because often when a license is issued to a casino it comes with an agreement not to grant more licenses for X number of years.
I'm afraid that (legal) internet poker is going to be many years away. For the time being I will have to be satisfied with trusting Phan Quang Hai in Vietnam to transfer my money on and off of the few sites that still accept american players and be prepared for those fuckers to seize them too.
If, if a white man puts his arm around me voluntarily, that's brotherhood. But if you - if you hold a gun on him and make him embrace me and pretend to be friendly or brotherly toward me, then that's not brotherhood, that's hypocrisy.- Malcolm X
I was wondering what happened to that online poker craze. Then again, I just kind of shrugged my shoulders once it seemed to have receded back into the ocean of fads, but yeah, I didn't know it was in violation of anything.
If the government of US again allow online casinos sites to do business in their states then this will be vary interesting news for the casinos lover people in US. By this they can again enjoy the fun of casinos through gambling sites.
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