Offshore Gambling on the Internet Banned by US
5 Oct 2006
It is official. The US stunned the gambling community both online and land-based by passing laws that effectively ban the services from their biggest market. The gambling industry online practically went into meltdown mode over the news, shocked that the passing of the anti-gambling bill passed so quickly and without real confrontation from the Senate.
The reason for the Senate’s compliance could possibly be the fact that the anti-gambling bill was attached to another bill, one that concerned American port security. The bill outlaws the processing of bets for gambling companies online, effectively preventing US banks and credit card companies from doing business with the gambling operators. It could be signed into law by President Bush as early as this week.
The US Senate was expected to block the legislation, but instead sneaked the bill through early Saturday morning US time. It followed some last-minute maneuvering ahead of the Senate break for mid-term elections. The bill excludes US-based gambling online and betting on services like horse racing and lotteries, but has no impact on American casinos and other gambling operations. The US Government has been in a tussle with the online gambling industry for more than a decade, dating back to when foreign gambling operators accepted bets from US citizens over the phone from offshore operations in the Caribbean. The future of the online casino industry, after the passing of this bill, is unknown and unclear. How this recent legislation will affect the industry remains to be seen.
