Is It Legal to Play in Online Casino for USA Residents?

It is certainly an irrefutable fact that the gambling industry is one of the biggest and strongest industries in the United States. With an entire city devoted to gambling, this is inevitable. States have passed laws expanding the range of legalized gambling within their jurisdiction. This results to a great boom or explosion in the gambling industry in almost all states.

Unlawful Internet Gambling Act of 2006

With the advent of the Internet, online gambling has also become possible. This brought casinos to homes of millions of casino players. This gave rise to the popularity of online gambling. In effect, this raises some major legal and economic issues. The United States, for a long time, has toyed with the idea of banning online gambling.

Ultimately, in September of 2006, just before the Congress adjourns for the midterm election, they passed the legislation amending the Safe Harbor Act. This is entirely different from the expansion of the range of the Wire act. In an interesting move, the federal government passed a new piece of legislation which effectively makes gambling illegal. To some, the method of passing the legislation was pretty sneaky. Congress was supposed to pass the Safe Harbor Act, a legislation intended to eliminate terrorist attacks on US ports. To the dismay of online casino players, attached to the Safe Harbor Act was the "Unlawful Internet Gambling Act of 2006." The favorable vote granted to the Safe Harbor Act effectively creates a law out of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Act. There was no need for the Congress to vote on the latter. The bill was signed by the President George W. Bush into law in October 13, 2006.

Initially, there was no mention of "illegality" of online gambling. In fact, there is no actual prohibition of online gambling. There is no clarification on this matter. There is no clarification on the legality of establishment of online casinos, and there has been no record of anyone being charged for the crime

Effect of the Law to Online Gambling Industry

The passage of this law gives rise to the seeming illegality of online gambling. There are people who argue that the law did not actually make gambling illegal. What was actually made illegal was the transfer of money by banks to an online casino. This is geared towards eliminating online gambling. Prior to the passage of this law, online gambling industry was remarkably huge with a billion dollar-range annual revenue. This law, however, effectively eliminates online gambling. The effects of the law were felt by most online casinos. Many casinos closed outright, and there were those that stayed but saw considerable stock devaluation.

Like most moral issues, people have varying issues on the legality or illegality of online gambling. There are as many people who support the legality of online gambling as there are as many people who support its illegality.

Countries that allow online gambling have expressed their dissent on the attempts of the United States to curtail or put an end to online gambling. In fact, Antigua and Barbuda have openly expressed their intent to bring to the attention of the World Trade Organization the actions of the United States - referring to these acts as an attempt to interfere with the economic development of countries like Antigua and Barbuda.

Online casinos and companies have expressed their support on the movement against money laundering, game-fixing, and underage gambling on the condition that online gambling is not prohibited, merely regulated.

Is Online Gambling Illegal?

If you're a fan of online gambling, you are probably concerned about the passage of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Act of 2006. Does the law really make online gambling illegal? The illegality of online gambling has always been an issue in most states; and in fact, there were states that banned online gambling even before the passage of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Act. These states include Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, South Dakota, Washington, and Wisconsin. So, if you are residing in any of these states, you don't have to wonder if online gambling is illegal in your state. It is definitely illegal, and nothing has changed in that aspect with regard to these 11 states.

Now, what about if you're residing in a state not included in those 11 states? Then online gambling is not illegal in your state. There are currently 39 states where online gambling remains to be legal even after the passage of the Act. The reason is quite simple. The law does not really make the act of gambling illegal. Again, what was made illegal was the transfer of money by banks or financial institutions to online casinos. It also disallowed the use of credit or debit cards to transfer money to online casinos. This only limits the method of transfer of money to online casinos. This does not categorically prohibit the act of gambling.

US Friendly Casinos

Again, if you're not a resident of any of the 11 states that prohibit online gambling, then you can still definitely gamble online. Until there is no clear cut clarification or definition of the word "illegal" in online gambling, it still remains legal unless it is finally expressed to be otherwise by the state laws or federal laws.

There are in fact numerous online casinos that cater to US players. However, there are casinos that do not accept US players from the 11 states and there are those that accept US players regardless of their place of residence. Some of the casinos that have opened their doors to US players include Golden Casino, Millionaire Casino, Super Slots Casino, Silver Dollar Casino, Slots Village Casino, Winward Casino, Bodog Casino, English Harbour Casino, BetUS Casino, and Caribbean Gold Casino. These casinos do not discriminate against any US players. They also offer the best bonuses, games, and promotions, which any player would enjoy. So, if you cannot play in your favorite online casino, you should definitely look into casinos that still accept US players. There are still a lot of these casinos online.