This really is part 1 of a multipart series of articles regarding proposed anti-gambling legislation. In this informative article I discuss the proposed legislation, what the politicians say it does, some factual statements about the current state of online gambling, and what the bills really propose.
The legislators are trying to protect us from something, or are they? The whole lot seems a little confusing to say the least.
The House, and the Senate, are yet again considering the matter of “Online Gambling” ;.Bills have now been submitted by Congressmen Goodlatte and Leach, and also by Senator Kyl.
The bill being put forward by Rep. Goodlatte has the stated intention of updating the Wire Act to outlaw all forms of online gambling, to make it illegal for a gambling business to just accept credit and electronic transfers, and to force ISPs and Common Carriers to block access to gambling related sites at the request of law enforcement.
Just as does Rep. Goodlatte, Sen. Kyl, in his bill, Prohibition on Funding of Unlawful Internet Gambling, makes it illegal for gambling businesses to just accept credit cards, electronic transfers, checks and other designs of payment, but his bill doesn’t address the keeping bets.
The bill submitted by Rep. Leach, The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, is actually a copy of the bill submitted by Sen. Kyl. It focuses on preventing gambling businesses from accepting credit cards, electronic transfers, checks, and other payments, and like the Kyl bill makes no changes from what is currently legal.
Based on Rep. Goodlatte “While gambling is currently illegal in the United States unless regulated by the states, the development of the Internet has made gambling easily accessible. It is common for illegal gambling businesses to use freely until police force finds and stops them.”
Actually, American courts have determined that the Wire Act makes only Sports Betting illegal, and even then only across telephone lines. Very few states have laws that produce online gambling illegal, some states and Tribes have taken steps to legalize online gambling, and even the Federal government recognizes some forms of online gambling to be legal.메이저사이트
Goodlatte himself says his bill “cracks down on illegal gambling by updating the Wire Act to cover all forms of interstate gambling and account for new technologies. Under current federal law, it’s unclear whether using the Internet to use a gambling business is illegal” ;.
Goodlatte’s bill however doesn’t “cover all forms of interstate gambling” as he claims, but rather carves out exemptions for several forms of online gambling such as for example state lotteries, bets on horse racing, and fantasy sports. Even then, his modifications to the Wire Act don’t make online gambling illegal, they ensure it is illegal for a gambling business to just accept online bets in which a person risks something of value “upon the results of a contest of others, a sporting event, or even a game predominantly susceptible to chance”, except obviously when it is circumstances lottery, horse race, fantasy sports, or certainly one of additional situations.
The truth of the situation is that a lot of online gambling businesses have situated in other countries specifically to avoid the gray area that is the current state of online gambling in the US. Consequently, there’s little that police force can perform to enforce these laws. Trying to help make the laws tougher, and providing for stiffer penalties, will not make sure they are easier to enforce.
As well, most, if not totally all, banks and bank card companies won’t transfer money to an online gambling business now, as a result of pressure from the federal government. Consequently, alternative payment systems sprang around fill the void.
Senator Kyl is equally misleading in his statements. From his proposed bill, “Internet gambling is primarily funded through personal utilization of payment system instruments, credit cards, and wire transfers.” But as we already know, most credit cards in the U.S. refuse attempts to fund a gambling account.
Also from the Kyl bill, “Internet gambling is a growing reason behind debt collection problems for insured depository institutions and the customer credit industry.” If the bank card companies and other financial institutions in the U.S aren’t allowing the funding of gambling, how could it be “a growing reason behind debt collection problems” ;.And since when do we need legislation in order for the financial industry to guard itself from high risk debt. If the financial industry was accepting gambling debts and these gambling charges were a problem for them, wouldn’t they only stop accepting them?