Online Gambling Outlawed

Is Online Gambling Going Out of Business

On October 2, 2006, the US Congress passed a bill that will see many Internet gambling companies out of the game. As per the new bill, which is entitled the "Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006," Internet gambling (including games of poker) would be now outlawed in the United States. State run lotteries and horse racing have however been exempt from the bill. President Bush has indicated that he will soon sign the required documents, a move that will bring many gambling sites to abandon US, one of the world's largest markets for online casinos.

The Affect on Online Casinos

It is easy to see that many online casinos will be badly affected if the bill is signed in the long run. However, immediate affects have been devastating enough for these organizations. One online casino that has been majorly affected is PartyGaming, a Gibraltar based web leader in online poker. After the bill was announced, shares of PartyGaming were seen to come crashing down by 58% in a day's time. Also 888 holdings, another online casino and card games site lost over a quarter of its value. Another online gaming site that was badly affected was the Sportingbet, a site on sports betting, where share fell by 64%. US is a major revenue generating region for most online gaming sites that depend on its profitable markets and enthusiastic players. If this bill becomes reality and the law takes affect, most gaming sites state that they would come out of US altogether.

The Affect on Online Gamblers

Not only would the move affect gaming sites, it would affect gamblers as well. Statistics by the Poker Players Alliance show that over seventy million Americans (representing one quarter of America) play poker and one third of this segment plays poker online. This law would mean that customers would no longer be able to enter gambling sites from US based Internet (IP) addresses which would be blocked. Also the law will prevent gambling companies from accepting bets placed using credit cards with US based billing addresses.

Analysts and market experts however state the move has not been totally unexpected for gaming companies. Telltale signs of the bill could be seen coming since the arrest of BetOnSports chief executive David Carruthers in July for alleged illegal interstate gambling. The former chairman of Sportingbet, a company of repute, was also detained on similar charges in August 2006. Talks on the issue have been on for a while, but few actually expected the Congress to make the move.

Gaming Companies took a Hit but are Still Alive

The future has thus again become highly uncertain. Many feel that regulating online gaming would have suited the purpose much better than an outright ban. Various people have expressed that despite laws, diehard US gambling fans would soon find ways to circumvent the rules and gamble online. Many others feel that smaller non US-based gaming companies would be bought over by bigger casino players to boost revenues. And companies like PartyGaming and 888 state that they will continue expansions into new markets. While Europe and Asia represent good alternative markets for gambling companies to expand into, the truth is that the money involved would not be as great.

Early signs of Outlawing Online Gambling in Washington

Online gambling is from June 7th, 2006 outlawed in Washington, due to a new state law in Washington. As per the new state law, placing an online bet for poker and other games is considered to be a felony.

This law has been put in place to stop money laundering, gambling scams, through these online game sites, as well as preventing kids from playing the game online and perhaps loosing money or getting addicted to gambling in general, what ever game they might be playing.

While many citizens and online players feel that the state government has much better things to do, officials feel that controlling online gambling is important. This is because; electronically it is difficult to catch people who are laundering money using these gaming sites such as backgammon gambling and casino type betting.

In all of the twelve investigations the state had opened on such cases, although their efforts were foiled on most occasions.

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