Do Online Gamblers Play By The Rules?


by Bud Sayce - Date: 2007-10-01 - Word Count: 510 Share This!

Sports betting or gambling has become more and more popular over the years. Its popularity has been further intensified by the growth of online sports betting, also known as Internet gambling. However, online sports betting has long been the subject of many controversies. And, one controversy in particular is its legality.

When talking about online sport betting, people sometimes wonder whether they may be breaking any local or state laws. Gambling on sports, as you may know, has been deemed illegal in many countries across he world. North America is one particular region that strongly upholds anti-sport betting laws. In America, most states and even the federal government have passed legislations as to whether or not online and offline gambling are allowed.

However, it is only until recently that the regulation of online sports betting was left entirely to the discretion of the individual provincial or state governments in North America, and to some degree, the advent of online sports betting created certain levels of confusion about the jurisdiction. One main question that continues is who runs the laws in the virtual world. As you probably know, some of the current gambling laws were created and enacted prior to the design of the Internet. This fact is what in fact makes the application of those established laws open to different interpretation.

Aside from concerns about the online sport betting laws, concerned individuals also asks whether it is legal to run sport betting online or offshore, and take business away from clients in the United States. It's commonly understood that the U.S. government deems foreign or online sport betting to be illegal.

It is assumed, therefore, that online sport betting is an illegal activity in the eyes of the U.S. government. Numerous reports, however, have revealed that there have been no bills passed that can actually prevent online sport betting. Further complicating matters, several attempts to pass bills thwarting the enduring popularity of online sport betting have dramatically failed.

Perhaps one particular reason that caused the failure of those anti-sports gambling bills is that the federal government has placed much of the jurisdiction for gambling in the hands of individual states, in which some of those states have approved the practice of online sports gambling. Several of those states have actually voted on legalizing online sports betting, and North Dakota is one of them.

Other states, like Illinois, have put certain legalizations in place that strictly prohibit the promotion of online casinos within the state. So far California, Nevada and Louisiana are the only states that have strongly prohibited their citizens from gambling beyond state borders.

Now that some states have enforced anti-gambling laws, there are online sport books that have opted to stay offshore in foreign countries. These outfits avoid breaching the laws by setting up their computer servers offshore as well.

Further, even though anti-gambling laws have been passed, no citizen has been arrested for taking part in online sport betting. Of course, things can change very quickly in the industry and the legal arena, so keep your eyes on the law, and stay in the game.

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Freelancer Bud Sayce is a contributor to numerous popular Internet sites, on leisure activity and leisure time issues.

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