midwestguy - 11:08 pm on Feb 16, 2006 (gmt 0)

I wonder if the real purpose of this law is to make it easy and "clear cut" for the credit card companies to NOT honor payments made by US citizens to off shore casinos. There was one paragraph in the linked to story talking about that.

I am not a lawyer, and this is not legal advice....But my understanding is that it's already illegal for a US citizen to place a bet *by wire*, i.e. via phone or digital network -- unless they are in a place like Nevada that may allow state residents to gamble at the online sites of that state's casinos while present within that state's borders.

Please note I'm NOT an advocate or supporter of these kinds of laws. Even though I don't gamble online, I do believe folks should be able to.

Heck, I think they passed a law around 1950 outlawing poker players crossing state lines to gamble in "illegal" poker games (i.e. home games).

As for affiliate/advertising income from casinos, I recall hearing The Sporting News agreeing to a multi million dollar "settlement" (i.e. fine) for running advertisements for online casinos.

From what I recall, the governments stance was if a casino paid the publisher based on how many people the advertisment brought in, the publisher was deemed as some sort of "contributing accesory" to the "crime" of "internet gambling".

From the Land of the Free,

Louis