Be Guided When Placing Bets Online
Do you love placing bets online and playing all the online casino games there is on the internet? If yes, then read this.
Wikipedia.org stated that the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled in November 2002 that the Federal Wire Act prohibits electronic transmission of information for sports betting across telecommunications lines but affirmed a lower court ruling that the Wire Act “‘in plain language’ does not prohibit Internet gambling on a game of chance.”
Some states have specific laws against online gambling of any kind. Also, owning an online gaming operation without proper licensing would be illegal, and no states are currently granting online gaming licenses.
In March 2003, Deputy Assistant Attorney General John G. Malcolm testified before the Senate Banking Committee regarding the special problems presented by online gambling. A major concern of the United States Department of Justice is online money laundering. The anonymous nature of the Internet and the use of encryption make it especially difficult to trace online money laundering transactions.
In April 2004 Google and Yahoo!, the two largest internet search engines, announced that they were removing online gambling advertising from their sites. The move followed a United States Department of Justice announcement that, in what some say is a contradiction of the Appeals Court ruling, the Wire Act relating to telephone betting applies to all forms of Internet gambling, and that any advertising of such gambling “may” be deemed as aiding and abetting. Critics of the Justice Department’s move say that it has no legal basis for pressuring companies to remove advertisements and that the advertisements are protected by the First Amendment. As of April 2005, Yahoo! has instigated a restrictive policy about gambling ads.
In line with these laws, policies and regulations, consumers and online afficionados are warned that with the spread of the Internet, online casinos and gambling are on the rise. Millions of people play on the more than four hundred sites registered on the Internet. Online gambling is a million dollar industry with few overheads and huge profits. It takes just a million dollars to establish an online casino whereas it takes more than three hundred million dollars to construct a land-based casino. Online casinos enjoy a profit of about twenty-five percent on every dollar compared to offline casinos that earn just sixteen percent profit on every dollar. Internet casinos are a profitable business with little regulation now.
With this in mind, everyone should be careful. If you love placing bets online, then better consult an online casino bluebook for your proper guidance.
