Big changes in the US online gambling future

The last year has been a frustrating one for online gamblers in the US and for poker players across the board in the country since many poker pros relied on online poker rooms to keep the funds flowing and for sponsorships.  But in 2011, the Department of Justice began to enforce the UIGEA or Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. Now I know gamblers who took that as a personal affront, apparently not grasping the difference between the department tasked with enforcing the law and the people who make the law. Or to put it more simply – the same cop who pulls you over for speeding isn’t the person who set the speed limit for the road (some areas of the American South excepted), so it doesn’t help to get mad at the cop.

But the DOJ is tasked with enforcing laws and justice requires making sure they understand the laws and are enforcing them correctly.  So here’s where it gets complicated. The DOJ had to enforce the UIGEA which essentially calls for enforcing the law against financial transaction occurring where internet gambling is illegal. The UIGEA doesn’t make internet gambling illegal. It just says – enforce the law where it already is illegal. So, first you need a law that makes internet gambling illegal.

Enter the Wire Act of 1961, a law written to guard against illegal activity in sports betting. The law that people were using to show that internet gambling was illegal because of the way money was transferred.  A law which some claimed really only applied to sports betting because casino betting and sports betting are very different. And the DOJ examined the Wire Act and decided, yep, it’s meant to apply to sports betting.

This changes the US gambling prospects for the future not by making online gambling legal, but my opening the door for states to make their own laws regarding online gambling without violating Federal law.  So I suspect we’ll see a lot of laws being debated around the country in 2012.