Sports gambling laws
Sports betting laws differ from country to country. In the United States, sports gambling is regarded as illegal in most states save a few like Nevada, Montana etc. The legitimacy and general acceptance of sports betting is highly regulated in several European countries though not criminalized, but Europeans must know the best way to bet tax-free – excellent info at GertGambell.net. “Sports gambling” is regarded by legalized sports gambling proponents as being a sports hobby for sports enthusiasts to enhance their fascination with a sporting event thus becoming a great benefit to leagues, teams and players etc.
There are many sites that happen to be respectable that do not allow US residents to bet through them but with the advent of the internet and offshore gambling websites it is getting difficult to govern the sports gambling activities of Americans. For many years the US argued against the online gambling legalities by citing the Interstate Wire Act of 1961 passed to halt sports gambling activities between the states by making use of wire containing devices along with the telephone. Considering that the internet had not been yet invented during those times, legal experts today question whether the law actually pertained to the internet services or otherwise.
The Justice Department of the US however claimed that the Wire Act did refer to all types of online or internet gambling. In 2006, The congress wrote the SAFE Port Act and passed it to increase the United States port security. Attached to it was the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act that prohibited US residents from utilization of electronic fund transfer or checks, credit cards etc to fund any internet gambling activity.
The thing that was important was the reality that the act dealt only with the funding of internet betting accounts rather than the actual placing of the bet. Therefore an online gambling law attorney Lawrence Walters stated that this bill that was passed didn’t have impact on the gambling activity of the person but focused only on the restriction of certain transactions that were financial and concerning the banks and internet gambling sites. Thus the bill failed to make internet gambling illegal nevertheless it made funding ones bet or wager on the internet sites illegal criminalizing the financial transaction instead of the actual act of betting by the individual.
Rep Barney Frank then introduced in 2007, the Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act in order to legalize internet sports gambling and at the same time Rep.es McDermott introduced the Internet Gambling Regulation and Tax Enforcement Act to control betting sites on the web and collect tax on all bets made.
The nation of Antigua and Barbuda in 2003 registered a complaint against the US with the World Trade Organization the US (based on their sports gambling laws and ban on gambling on the net) violated their WTO rights. The WTO ruled for their favor and though the US appealed the original ruling was upheld on plenty of occasions. The WTO awarded Antigua and Barbuda trade sanctions worth $21 million as well as the right to penalize the US copyright and trademark laws.
