Online Gambling effectively banned in the US

[Dentist]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/5397920.stm

Considering the top 3 firms operating that will be affected by this are British, i sense protectionism in place here.

Thaughts?

[bvark]

I think it's more likely the top three firms operating this are British because they would have been shut down years ago if they were American, and AIM/LSE is the next-best place to cash out... ooh I mean 'raise money for needed expansion'

[Dentist]

Well, there are plenty of American companies doing the same, just not to the same scale as the Brit companies, so i don't see how that would be the case :)

[Cabe]

888 and Partygaming are cirtainly not British, they are based in Gibralter which is a territory. I would like to see the US try and shut them down.

It really is up to the US to censor the internet as it comes into the country, not to put the burden on companies where the law does not apply.

Sportingbet appears to be the only company with a UK presence.

[Dentist]

Gibraltar's technical definition is a "British Overseas Territory". Therefore its British as far as i am concerned.

[Afty]

Yes, Gibraltar is very British from a financial regulations point of view, it's only really taxes that make it different (and how).

Besides, aren't there currently British directors of some online gambling company in jail in the US awaiting charges because they didn't explicitly stop US punters from participating?

Would like to see what happens when a CNN editor goes to Saudi Arabia under the same reciprocity... he could lose body parts.

[Mu5icMan]

It doesn't matter if they are british or not if they process a credit card or transaction from someone in the USA the gaming company are liable.

[Cheez]

That's surely not the way international law works, you don't get prosecuted in the UK for breaking a US law, without ever setting foot on US soil. The brits who were arrested were on a trip to the US.

[LozB]

wasnt it only yesterday that regulations were being placed against online betting providers to finance betting addiction help centers?

[Cabe]

indeed, americans are not jailed for drinking in the UK when they are 18 when thier home state prohibits them until 21.

Whilst it is a British territory its connection to Britain is strickly one of sovereignty and not of Government or UK Law.

[Hg]

protectionism is surely the cause of this and that sucks

[Cabe]

Aye, I thought America was the land of the free clearly they forgot to transcribe "if we cant tax it, its illigal"

[Lucifa]

i thought it was simply because gambling is illegal in almost every state apart from the obvious few and online gambling is a loophole.

[LozB]

convinced its a big cover up to make u go to vegas. fronted by the politicians and directed by the casino corporations...

[Rupert]

It is illegal to run an online gambling business from England (possibly the rest of the UK) so most of the companies run from Costa Rica or Gibralter. Oddly, the bigger british sites (willhill, betfair, etc) banned US players pre legislation, but now Party have banned it is worrying days. A lot of sites are staying open on the basis that they don't think they are doing anything illegal. They all have a 270 day cooling down period to block users anyway, so until 9 months time not a huge amount will change.

The reason people think it has been banned is because all the companies are located offshore (they can't take US players if they are based in the US as gambling cross-states is illegal). Obviously the government doesn't have to provide any explanation as such but google for some comments from Frist and you will soon realise how much of a bellend he is.

The general consensus in the online gambling world is that this is very bad news.

The act is analyzed by a famous law professor here (http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=7508486)

[TheDon]

I'm still unsure as to how they will actually regulate this.
Alot of casinos already ban US based credit cards, with neteller being the deposit method of choice for most of the hardcore gamblers. I'm failing to see how the US can regulate someone paying money into a neteller account, and then depositing into an online casino from that neteller account.
Either they force banks to block transactions to neteller, or they can't stop it? Seeing neteller is non-US they have no juridstiction to force neteller to block payments to casinos from US residents...

All I can see this doing is knocking out the more casual US player who uses echecks to deposit...