Background

Legality Of Online Sports Betting In United States

By George Smith


At present, online sport betting is now a fascination for many, with more and more people indulging in this type of online gambling than in other traditional gambling games. Betting is now a worldwide phenomenon with most countries establishing laws to legalize and regulate it. The image is always going to be a bit unclear because of the disagreement regarding what law actually says until the online cleared up. The lawfulness of Internet sports gambling can appear to be a complex problem for residents of the United States and for good reason. To better understand the legality question, it's best to look back at some history of anti-betting legislation. Even more, for several years the United States argued against the lawfulness of Internet sports betting by citing the Interstate Wire Act, which was passed to ban sports gambling between states by using the telephone or other wire-containing devices.

Sports betting between states by use of telephone or other wire-containing devices were banned by citing the Interstate Wire Act in the United States for many years. Furthermore, the Internet wasn't yet invented, a number of legal experts questioned if the law pertained to the Internet or not. Moreover, the other question that arose from the Wire Act were if it related to all forms of betting or just wagering on sporting events. In 2002, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a ruling in Louisiana that dismissed a lawsuit brought by two Internet gamblers against credit card companies after running up debts by making bets on casino games. In the dismissal, the court ruled the Wire Act was only pertinent to sporting events.

On the other hand, the United States Justice Department saw things in a different way, however, and claimed the Wire Act had to do with all forms of Internet sports betting. The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana concerted. In dismissing a 2004 case against the Justice Department brought by the operators of Casino City, a website that serves as a portal to betting sites. The 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals preserved the dismissal.

Likewise, just before taking recess in 2006, Congress passed the SAFE Port Act, which was created to increase security of U.S. Port, but attached to the SAFE Port Act was the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, which bans Americans from using credit cards, electronic funds transfers, or checks to finance Internet gambling activity. It's essential to note, the act deals only with how Internet gambling accounts are funded, not the actual betting. The bill is centered on restricting certain financial transactions, demanding that banks identify and block transactions going through their servers and their systems, and demanding that the actual sites, the Internet betting sites, handle these transactions. In contrast, on December 21, 2007, the WTO (World Trade Organization) awarded Antigua and Barbuda $21 million in trade sanctions, which will give the country of 80,000 the right to penalize U. S. trademark and copyright laws. The United States accepted that its stand on Internet gambling was in violation of the WTO, but claimed Antigua should receive less than $1 million. Further altering things, at least as far as it concerned the WTO, was that the U.S. allows Internet betting on horse racing within the country, and Antigua's trade sanctions will be allowed to go on until the U.S. allows Americans to bet with foreign gaming operators, or eliminates off-track wagering on the Internet.

The U.S. has also made some minor trade concessions to some countries, as well as the European Union, to shut out gambling services from an older signed agreement in 1994 by revising the original agreement. Betting on sports is now a a major interest for many, with more and more people indulging in this type of online betting than in other traditional gambling games. Gambling is now a worldwide phenomenon with most countries creating laws to legalize and control it.




About the Author:



Categories:

Leave a Reply

Powered by Blogger.