Gambling Ban Continues to Crash Hopes
Posted November 17, 2008 – 10:17 am in: Online Gambling
Just when we thought that the fight for the legalization for online gambling is coming to a close, we realize that it’s actually far from over. While there have been lobbyists to make online gambling legal to help save the financial services industry, there are continuous blows to it. One of the biggest is the approval of the 2006 Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. This was given a final ruling by the Treasury Department.
The Impact of Gambling Ban
Though there isn’t a clear definition for unlawful online gambling, it will still affect U.S. players in a lot of ways. For those who are banning them may also finalize their decision to restrict players from the United States into any of their rooms. They cannot even register. On the other hand, for online gambling sites that permit U.S. players may eventually decide to limit the types of games that they can play. Worse, they may actually have to remove them, in the hopes that the government will not run after them.
The U.S. players who try to deceive these online gambling sites and may have found a way to join them will have to suffer consequences, such as a felony case, which may be punishable by imprisonment and a huge fine.
The ban will also encourage online gamblers to set their eyes into something else, such as NFL fantasy games, which are spared from the online gambling ban for the reason that they are actually tests of skills, not chance. What’s more, NFL operators and manufacturers can definitely look forward to more revenues and player growth within the next few years.
The strict regulations will also hurt the financial services industry, which may actually earn from the online transactions of online gamblers.
Why It Came to Be
Picture this: an online gambling addict will probably spend thousands of dollars in a month. He pays through online payment sites such as MoneyBookers, Egold, and a lot more. He can also pay through his credit card. Regardless of his mode of payment, though, one thing is for sure: it’s going to be a lot of money.
The United States, on the other hand, have been apprehensive of a huge chunk of money that has been going in and out of the country. It could mean that these may be funds for terrorist activities or for other illegal transactions. It could mean that someone may be stealing somebody else’s money. Simply put, it could be a possible case of money laundering. To make sure that these scenarios will not come to fruition, the act is born. It will restrict U.S. players by preventing them from paying online.
Conservatives will definitely applaud of the bill, simply because they believe it will save the morale of their youth. Though 18 years old is the minimum age requirement for online gamblers, there is no way for them to verify the authenticity of this information. Thus, as young as 16 years old can already get their hands on the table and card games.
Tags: Gambling, Gambling Ban, gambling sites, Internet Gambling, Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, Online Gambling