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U.S. House to Vote on Anti-Online Gambling Act
SonicSpike writes to mention that the House is set to vote on an act designed to choke off the U.S. money flow to internet gambling. Though illegal here in the states, overseas operators are getting a good deal of business from individuals with U.S. bank accounts and credit cards. From the article: "The legislation would make it illegal for banks and credit card companies to make payments to these sites. It also allows law enforcement officials to force Internet service providers to remove links to the websites. Many major credit card companies already refuse to process such payments. Opponents of the bill, including online gambling sites and a new group representing U.S. poker players, noted the growing popularity of Internet gambling and predicted that people would continue to sidestep laws."
They already have these. The other day I tried partypoker.com for the first time. They offer the purchase of a phone card through one site and then the credit is transferred to Party Poker via an authorization code (I had to do this after my bank denied the transaction).
When offshore gambling sites first popped up 10+ years ago, the quick and easy way to deposit money into them was via credit card. Around 6-7 years ago, most credit card companies started denying payments to any "gaming website". While they claimed they were taking the moral high ground, the real reason is having to deal with chargebacks. Since it is against the law to collect on any gambling debt in the US, you had people running up their credit card bill at gambling sites, then protesting the charge and the card companies did not have a legal leg to stand on -- they certainly couldn't take anyone to court claiming they were owed this money that they knew was being used for gambling. When the card companies started denying payments, people started using middleman payment processors. The processor of choice was Paypal. Fees were high, but often times you could get the sportsbook to pick up the fees if you made a deposit. In 2002, when EBay bought Paypal, they decided they wanted to stop handling any grey area business since they were a large company and didn't want the legal liability. This meant dropping payment processing for most porn sites and gambilng sites. The irony of this was that Paypal made its name in the industry (and its fortune) off of gambling and porn sites, but was now ditching them now that they had achieved a higher status. When this happened, Neteller -- an offshore payment processing company -- was the one who got the biggest boost in business. With even higher fees, they essentially did what Paypal was doing (though with much less regulation and customer service). After a few years many people found they could no longer do credit card deposits to Neteller, so most have resorted to actually making direct bank deposits from their bank to Neteller. Neteller is still around today and is still what most people use to make sportsbook deposits. Western Union is also a company many people use, but people have found more and more they are asking a lot of questions on who exactly you are sending the money to -- obviously the government is putting the heat on them as well. Over the years many other small payment processing companies have popped up... All of course unregulated, but with the lack of viable options for getting money into offshore books, people have taken the chance.
Eye On Gambling -- www.eog.com
I call your bluff, and raise you a fact.
All individual gambling income is taxed at the federal level. OTB and lotteries are done at the state level, and not at the federal level. This is simply the latest addition to a long history of federal anti-gambling bills -- not really news at all:
http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18/1082.htmlf all01/Internet_Gambling/Publish/page12.html
http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18/1084.html
http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18/1955.html
http://www.unc.edu/courses/law357c/cyberprojects/
It's Ayn Rand.
"Did you really think we want those laws observed?" said Dr. Ferris. "We want them to be broken. You'd better get it straight that it's not a bunch of boy scouts you're up against... We're after power and we mean it... There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What's there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced or objectively interpreted - and you create a nation of law-breakers - and then you cash in on guilt. Now that's the system, Mr. Reardon, that's the game, and once you understand it, you'll be
much easier to deal with."
-Hentai [in vita non pacem est]
In the US itself, it's not a Federal matter. Gambling is left up to the States although on land such as Reservations it is pretty much open since it's not against Federal law. Different States have different laws concerning gambling. In some States gambling in all forms except the State lottery is illegal (heck, there may be States without a lottery I don't know...). In others only a few types are legalised. In others many forms are, but require licensing by the State.
In my own state Casinos are legal, provided they are on riverboats...and the State is essentially part-owner of the operations. There is also a state-run lotto, betting on horseracing is legal at licensed betting parlors, and gaming machines are legal but again require a license. On the other hand private wagers for money, private card games for money, and other such gambling is illegal because the State can't rip people off...but such things happen anyway.
From Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand.
How to solve most of our problems: 1.Lots of nuclear plants. 2.Cure aging.
Marijuana tax stamps were instituted by the "Marihuana Tax Act of 1937", which enacted federal statutes. I've never heard of state marijuana tax stamps.
Can you tell me which states these are? Or at least name one? Preferrably with a citation.
The Marihuana Tax Act of 1937, under which no stamps were ever sold (There is an anecdote about someone successfully getting them once, but I don't recall it giving any detail after that) was developed under the interstate commerce clause in the constitution and had two primary purposes. One was to protect paper and plastic industries - a lot of the lobbying involved here was on the part of Charles DuPont. Did you know Henry Ford once made a prototype vehicle made almost entirely out of hemp plastic, down to body panels and structural members? The other was to demonize blacks and mexicans, who were competing with white americans for jobs during the great depression. This was a highly successful campaign that painted marijuana as a drug of the evil blacks and mexis.
Everyone should keep in mind at all times that the war on drugs is a war on personal freedom (see: bill hicks) and that the government operates by keeping us separated from one another so we don't gang up on them.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
This evening Eye On Gambling's own, "The Shrink" (Ken Weitzner), will make an appearance on CNN Headline News with host Glenn Beck to discuss the H.R. 4411 bill being voted on by the House of Representatives which among other things would "prohibit credit cards and other payment forms, such as electronic transfers, from being used to settle online wagers. The bill also would give law enforcement officials the authority to work with Internet providers to block access to gambling websites" (AP). The show will air at 7PM EST and again at 9PM EST and Midnight EST on CNN Headline News (DirecTV Channel 204, DISH Network Channel 202).
Eye On Gambling -- www.eog.com