Is Online Gambling Legal in the U.S.?

Online gambling is huge.

If you're confused about the legalities of online gambling in the United States, you're not alone. Gambling online in the U.S. is actually legal, but the laws vary from state to state. In fact, the states cherish their right to regulate gaming within their own borders.

Trying to understand the many and varied rules and regulations, however, can be daunting and confusing, not to mention time consuming.

Search Google for "Is online gambling legal in the USA" and you'll get "About 1,610,000 results" related to the subject. Who's got time to sift through all of that? And even if you did, knowing that you're getting the right information is - pardon the pun - a gamble.

I was glad, therefore, to become aware of a website called UnitedStatesGamblingOnline that offers comprehensive legal online gambling information for United States players. UnitedStatesGamblingOnline provides tons of facts about legal online gambling in every state, details about the laws in those states, legal explanations of the various types of online gambling, gambling news and much more.

Gambling is immensely popular. Millions of Americans gamble legally in Nevada and New Jersey, where players lay down their bets on everything from professional sports games to … well, you name it.  Most states today operate lotteries and more and more cities are allowing casinos. Some states now even let you play their lotteries online.

So, with the timeless popularity of gambling, the fact that it's legal in some form or another in every state except Utah and Hawaii, and with the advent of the Internet, it stands to reason that online gambling should be wide open and completely legal.

I said in the beginning of this article that online gambling is legal in the U.S. But there have been some attempts at the federal level to make placing bets via your computer more difficult, causing some misconceptions about online gambling's legality that persists today.

Gambling has changed over the years

A law passed in 2006 had a chilling effect on the industry. The Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act (UIGEA) caused much confusion, and nine years later many people still think that the UIGEA 2006 bill made it illegal for US players to enjoy online gambling. However, that's not true.

The UIGEA "was put in place to regulate how online gambling transactions are processed, and was designed to protect players and their investment," says UnitedStatesGamblingOnline.

" The only real affect that the law had on players is that some gambling brands and payment methods chose not to jump through the regulatory hoops required by the legislation, and instead left the US market, hence slightly reducing selection for players in the United States." But today, notes the website, "there is a nice selection of legal online gambling sites that welcome US players."

Unfortunately, sports betting is different than, say, playing poker online. Currently, federal law is inconsistent. The Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), passed by Congress in 1992, restricts nearly all of the states from legalizing sports gambling. PASPA actually limits sports betting in the U.S. to four parts of the country: Oregon, Nevada, Montana and Delaware. The unfortunate effect of PASPA has been to keep ethical operations out of the business, while illegal sports gambling operations thrive. The Federal Wire Act also comes into play. The Department of Justice decided that it applies to sports betting, thereby making it illegal in the U.S. The 1961 law "specifically prohibits betting or gambling businesses from using a wire communication facility to transmit interstate or foreign bets, wagers and related information."

There is a current push by some governors and members of Congress to repeal PASPA and update the Federal Wire Act to take the Internet into account. This would bring online sports betting into the sunlight with other forms of online gambling that are already legal.  Sen. John McCain, for example, says that Nevada should not be the only state allowed to have legal sports betting.

Also See:

• The Professional And Amateur Sports Protection Act (Paspa): A Bad Bet For The States
• McCain calls for hearings on expanded sports betting
• Some of the information in this post was provided by UnitedStatesGamblingOnline

American Spirit Arms Leaves BofA, Moves To Local Bank

American Spirit Arms

Jan. 7, 2013 - Bank of America (BofA) tried to take the law into its own hands in late December when it froze the deposits of gun manufacturer American Spirit Arms. Late this morning, however, American Spirit announced that it has "gotten most of the deposits and have set up new accounts with a local bank."

Joseph P. Sirochman, owner of American Spirit Arms, says that BofA put his company's deposits on hold and under "further review." He says a bank employee told him, "We believe you should not be selling guns and parts on the Internet." Needless to say, Sirochman was very upset. On December 29, he posted about the ordeal on Facebook

This update was posted by American Spirit Arms at 10:45 AM CST, January 7, 2013 as a comment to the original post on Facebook (below):

I first want to thank all of you that have called, emailed and posted your support. I also wanted to post an update and to clear up some questions... BANK OF AMERICA started holding American Spirit Arms deposits for REVIEW on 12-18-12. Since that time we had to fight tooth and nail to get them released... We have now gotten most of the deposits and have set up new accounts with a local bank. Again I want to thank everyone for the outpour of support on this matter and believe because of you we were able to get our deposits..

Sincerely and Many Thanks,

Joseph P Sirochman
American Spirit Arms

Note: Sirochman's post got a lot of comments, and they're still coming in. Many commenters are urging him to sue BofA. A typical comment: "Get a good attorney and sue them... I am quite sure you will win, I would go for a few years worth of receipts for the damage done to your reputation and your business..."

Following is Sirochman's original Facebook post on December 29, 2012.

Starbucks Bullies Small Business: Coffee Versus Canines

Oct. 9, 2012 - Coffee giant Starbucks is doing its best to intimidate a small business in a Chicago suburb. Starbucks says that the business is violating its trademark rights. The name of the business is "Starbarks Dog Daycare & Boarding" (Starbarks Dog Inc.). Starbarks, unlike Starbucks, offers cage-free dog boarding in Algonquin, IL. Unlike Starbucks, they do not sell coffee.

Starbarks owner Andrea McCarthy-Grzybek told Chicago News Bench today that they are "still in talks" with Starbucks. She says she hopes to settle the dispute out of court in order to avoid a costly legal battle. The Chicago Sun-Times reports that a Starbucks spokesman said last Friday that they also would like to settle the matter out of court, saying "we have a legal obligation to protect our intellectual property . . . in order to retain our exclusive rights to it." 

Starbarks received the request to change its name back in April, reports the Northwest Herald, "in a letter from Anessa Owen Kramer of Honigman, Miller, Schwartz and Cohn LLP, which represents Starbucks Corp. in intellectual matters. Kramer wrote that Starbucks Corp. requests Starbarks cease and desist use of the term Starbarks as a business name, amend the Starbarks Dog Inc. entity name with the state of Illinois, discontinue use of the domain name StarbarksDog.com, and cease and desist all use of the current Starbarks logo." 

Of course, if Starbucks is not satisfied with the ongoing negotiations, they have powerful lawyers and an endless supply of money with which to crush little non-competing Starbarks in court. McCarthy-Grzybek is well aware of that fact.

Affiliate Marketers Under Assault

Affiliate marketers have come under assault recently. It's getting rough out there, as though the weak economy wasn't bad enough. Recently, Google has killed the search engine rankings for tens of thousands of affiliate marketers with its ("Google Farmer" or "Google Panda" algorithms).

Many of you are also bitterly aware of the recent debacle in Illinois, where Governor Pat Quinn and his fellow Democrats decided that taxing Amazon.com affiliates would be a good idea. It destroyed the livelihoods of hundreds of Illinois residents.

A report in March at Chicagoist.com summed up the anti-affiliate online tax legislation in Illinois: Online retailer Amazon barely waited for the ink to dry on Gov. Quinn's signing of HB 3659 into law by dropping its Illinois-based affiliates. HB 3659 requires all online retailers with a business presence in Illinois, like Amazon's affiliate program, to collect state sales tax on online purchases. In a statement to its Illinois affiliate owners, Amazon said, “We had opposed this new tax law because it is unconstitutional and counterproductive. We deeply regret that its enactment forces this action.” Full article...

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• Amazon Takes Action in Illinois as War on Sales Taxes Continues WSJ.com

Internet Ad Revenue Keeps Growing

While newpapers and magazines suffer ad revenue losses and dwindling circulation, ad revenue for Web sites is projected to keep growing. That's essentially what Geoff Ramsey writes at eMarketer: In our latest projections, released in August, eMarketer saw online advertising growing from $24.5 billion in 2008 to $28.5 billion in 2009. eMarketer benchmarks its online ad spending projections against quarterly reports by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), which uses PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to conduct its surveys. For the first half of 2008, the IAB reported 15.2% growth for online ad spending, which is in line with eMarketer’s predictions. Ramsey correctly points out that not everybody is optimistic, but he does provide strong evidence and statistics that support the bullish outlook. Marketers should rightly ask, “What is behind the bullish projections for online ad spending, especially when most traditional media are taking the financial equivalent of body blows?” The seven reasons are as follows:... FULL ARTICLE at eMARKETER...

Is CAPS 2411 Really Commercial Free?

A terse email from CAPS 2411 yesterday scolded a member of their Yahoo! email group. The note chastised the member, saying that he "violated our no commercial rule with your blatant ad for Microsoft." However, the note that claims the group has a "no commercial rule" has, that's right, a blatant ad for "a one-month free trial from Blockbuster."

Will the Group Owner now send himself a terse email, and will he place himself "on moderation?"

BLOWING SMOKE IN ILLINOIS

It ain't over yet folks. There are some who are trying to reverser - or modify - the Illinois smoking ban that went into effect January 1st. The Bench predicted severe damage to many bars and taverns. Seems we were right, and many of those saloon owners are screaming for help. Proposal dredges smoking from the ashes January 23, 2008 By LORRAINE SWANSON News-Star Staff Writer An Illinois State Rep. out of West Chicago wants to introduce a bill that will make some establishments exempt from the Smoke-Free Illinois Act--good news to some tavern owners who've seen a change in business since the statewide smoking ban took effect Jan. 1. "Yes, we would be interested in supporting the bill," said Lisa Hancock, who co-owns the Ravneswood Pub at 5455 N. Ravenswood Ave., with her husband, Ken. "We've seen a change in some of our regulars who smoke who aren't staying as long." FULL STORY...