The Logic of Online Gambling Laws

A gambling website that takes bets on anything from poker to sports to celebrity news is taking bets on which of Technorati's top 100 blogs will take the #1 spot at the end of the year. But is that legal? Well, sort of. BetUS.com lists the based on the Wire Act, which makes it illegal to operate an interstate gambling outfit and the Federal Organized Crime Act, which holds US citizen participants liable if gambling is illegal in their home state. That means, in most cases, the bettor has more protection than the bookie. Recently the DOJ has been more interested in legislation that reached overwhelming approval in the House of Representatives making it a crime to engage in any online gambling except for horse racing or state lotteries. That's because horse racing is a dignified form of gambling and the State doesn't like the mob horning in on its bad-at-math constituency. Outlawing online gambling would put the US in good company along with the People's Republic of China, where online gambling is also illegal. This would also be despite the frowning of the World Trade Organization which decided legislation criminalizing online betting is a violation of global laws. But global, schmobal, that only really counts if you grant any sovereignty at all to an outside body. And that ain't gonna happen. So let's recap: According to many lawmakers, gambling is immoral, except in horse racing and state lotteries. According to the DOJ, online gambling violates two different US laws, and handling a promotional campaign for an offshore company is deserving of up to 20 years in prison. In Washington, online gambling is as bad as rape or child molestation. It's illegal in the Home of the Free, where liberty and justice prevail, for people to do with their money as they see fit, just like in China. It's okay to regulate online gambling, the online sex industry, the online payment industry, how things Net Neutrality, the government is strictly protective of individual rights and regulation is to be avoided at all costs. The person in charge of regulating the Internet thinks it's a WebProWorld Tag: Add to Del.icio.us | Digg | Yahoo! My Web | Furl Bookmark Murdok: