Tag archive: Gambling

In an opinion dated in September but published just before the Christmas holiday (PDF), the U.S. Justice Department appears to be reversing almost half a century of policy on online and “wire” gambling, offering a new interpretation of law that may make it legal for states to authorize online gambling—and, if they do, the federal government would have to go along with it. The opinion, which ostensibly only applies to… Read More

It wouldn’t matter whether it was at the gambling mecca of Vegas, or, as in the case of Behar Merlaku, at a little-known casino in the tiny Austrian town of Bregenz – if the bells and lights on the slot machine I’m on start ringing and flashing, telling me I’ve won $57 million, then of course I’ll be planning my retirement. But when Swiss national Merlaku went to claim his jackpot, owners of the casino simply said there’d been a “software… Read More

The US Department of Justice has charged the owners of three of the largest Internet gambling sites for violating a cacophony of laws, including anti-gambling laws, money laundering and bank fraud, Reuters reports. The sites include Full Tilt Poker, Absolute Poker and PokerStars. New York prosecutors have issued restraining orders against 76 bank accounts in 14 countries that they say these companies used to launder billions of dollars in… Read More

Back in 2006, the United States passed legislation that made it illegal for credit card companies and banks to make payments to online gambling sites—regardless of whether those sites were actually U.S. businesses or not. The law effectively shut down (legal) online gambling in the United States, and took away one of the world's largest gambling markets from gaming sites. Companies in Europe were hit particularly hard, losing… Read More

Representative Barney Frank (D-MA), chairman of the house Financial Services Committee, indicated at a press conference Thursday he intends to push for a repeal of the three-year-old Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, which effectively quashed online gambling in the United States by barring businesses from knowingly accepting payments from credit cards, checks, and electronic funds transfers made in connection with unlawful… Read More

It might sound a little bizarre, but it’s true. A Kentucky court has said that the state is within its rights to grab the domain names of 141 different gambling sites in order to protect its citizens, since the state forbids gambling. Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear said: “Unlicensed, unregulated, illegal Internet gambling poses a tremendous threat to the citizens of the Commonwealth because of its ease, availability… Read More

The free-wheeling, anything-goes nature of the online virtual world Second Life is one of the things which appeals to many residents. Unlike games like The Sims and World of Warcraft, almost everything in Second Life is created by residents, who build and program objects, buy virtual “land” to set up homes and businesses, and interact with (potentially) millions of other in-world avatars. But that free-and-easy world has become… Read More

Virginia congressmen Bob Goodlatte (R) and Rick Boucher (D) have re-introduced the Internet Gambling Prohibition Act, legislation which, if enacted as law, would make electronic gambling illegal in the United States, with penalities of up to five years in prison. In addition, the legislation would grant law enforcement the authority to stop credit card and other forms of electronic payments, and prohibit businesses from accepting credit card… Read More