Different approaches of U.S. states to online gambling

Posted under Online Casinos in the USA by Online Casino Keeper

We all know perfectly well that the USA is the country where every state has a right to issue their own legislative acts. Sometimes, such situation may become even absurd and ridiculous, but still it is always necessary to know the difference in law system. It also concerns gambling in the USA, as casino players come across the difference in regulating the activity of online casinos in US state.

American states have worked out absolutely different approaches to the question of online gambling. You know that the government issued the bill UIGEA in 2006 according to which it was restricted to pass money transactions in this sphere. But at the same time some states publicly supported the law and even laid more restrictions, while the other states remain more loyal. So we would like to mention some states, where the legislation in this sphere is a bit different.

Washington was the first state, which emphasized its attitude toward gambling. The authorities of this state were strongly against the activity of USA online casinos and thus they took corresponding measures. So Washington announced in 2006 that virtual gambling was referred to the class C of felony. It means that it has become equal to child pornography and the torturing of animals. The only exception was horse racing. Certainly many gamblers were outraged by this fact but they could do nothing with it. Moreover, quite recently Washington issued another act, according to which the web sites were prohibited to take the information about gambling and place it online.

Kentucky is one more state with the negative attitude towards gambling. Its authorities made a decision in 2006 to seize the domains of 141 online casinos. Their owners considered it to be too much and that’s why the appealed to the court. The hearings have been going since that time and quite recently Kentucky Supreme Court ruled in favor of the authorities. Neither the efforts of iMEGA nor of the IGM helped. And in 2009 Minnesota also joined Kentucky be having blocked the domains of over 200 sites. It made it within the Wire Act from 1961.

However, not all states were so publicly against online gambling. The situation with many of them was quite on the contrary. In some states the attitude is rather positive to this question. New Hampshire is a good example. It had an online lottery which was extremely popular and brought huge profit to the state. However, after the bill UIGEA financial institutions refused to pass money transactions of that kind to remain at the safe side. As a result people lost almost all means to buy the tickets. The authorities are trying to change the situation. If it is a success, Illinois is going to follow the example.

California is also taking some measures toward the legislation of online gambling. In 2009 California passed a draft bill with the question of poker legalization. It really wants to make poker legal to get some profit from it. The question is not settled until today but people hope that they will be able to achieve positive results. It may become a good example for many other states.

You see that the situation in the USA in the sphere of online gambling is not stable. Some states are really against any operation of online casinos, while the others prefer making them absolutely legal. That’s why you should take this moment into consideration, if you are going to start gambling.