Many are confused about whether they’re allowed to make online bets or not. On the one hand, Americans who enjoy offshore sports betting and other forms of gambling online are probably aware of the 2006 law that made it a felony for banks to transfer money to or from online gambling sites. But some websites provide workarounds, and experts say the gamblers won’t get into trouble by using them. Or will they? Some states have banned all gambling online, bringing things to the personal level, so with the mixture of laws, it’s hard to be sure where the individual stands.

What will happen if someone places an online bet? According to the www.vegasclick.com site, nothing will happen. No individual has ever been prosecuted for doing so. Even the 2006 law was aimed at banks, not individual bettors. So if a person finds a way to get their funds to their favorite offshore betting site, they can carry on. Michael Bluejay, writing at the site in 2007 following passage of the law, said Americans are going to continue online gambling and nobody is likely to stop them, law or not.

Of course, most major offshore gambling sites didn’t quite see it that way. Several resisted at first, scoffing that a law made in the United States shouldn’t have jurisdiction over websites fully registered and legal in their own country. But eventually they decided that the hassle was just too great, especially when a couple of executives from those sites were arrested on American soil and prosecuted. So one by one, most of them announced they would no longer be accepting online bets from Americans.

Yet American gamblers just kept making online bets anyway, to the tune of eight billion dollars in 2009. And some legislators, considering the 2006 law simply too draconian, are trying to revamp American gambling laws so neither bettors nor banks will be penalized. They will simply regulate and tax the industry instead. Some even suggest that taxation on this industry alone could probably pay for a national health care system. So it’s likely the American government will legalize online gambling, and make the status of online gamblers a lot clearer.

Beth Kaminski is the co-author of Curing Your Anxiety And Panic Attacks which detailed treating panic disorder as well as tips on the various anxiety disorder medications available at www.anxietydisordercure.com.

No related posts.