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More DetailsJustice Department Ruling Could Mean Big Changes For Online Casino Players
In a very surprising move, the US Department of Justice has clarified its stance on internet gambling. The legal opinion was issued on Friday before Christmas, but the original decision was made back in September. The ruling came in response to a request by Senators Harry Reid and Jon Kyl for the Department of Justice to clarify its position. Two other states, Illinois and New York, also requested clarification regarding the Wire Act of 1961, one of the major laws used by the Department of Justice in pursuit of online gaming and casino regulation.
The opinion reverses the Justice Departments previous stance that all forms of gambling online are illegal, but stops short of stating that the Justice Department is looking to set regulations for a national online gaming system. The Department of Justice says the new policy “differs from the department’s previous interpretation of the Wire Act, (but) it reflects the department’s position in Congressional testimony at the time the Wire Act was passed in 1961.” The new decision by the Department of Justice says that the Wire Act only focuses on sports betting and not casino or casino offerings.
Several states may take advantage of this decision to introduce new lottery games within their borders. The new position does bring the possibility of individual states or a group of states banding together to allow online casinos to make a comeback in the United States.
There is the chance that several states could band together to make an online casino jackpot offering more attractive. Much like multi-state lotteries like PowerBall and Mega Millions and some interstate horse racing, a multi-state online casino jackpots would offer the incentive needed to drive big revenues.
Proponents of legalized online gambling say the business could provide new sources of revenue for states. But others, including large casino interests prefer a country wide system. They say that the free-flowing nature of the Internet is ill-suited for state gambling plans, which would attempt to limit online gambling to within a given state's borders.
Bodog is leaving the US Market in 2012
Bodog announced it wont offer its online gaming Brand to the US market after December 31, 2011. This news comes after the UK Gambling Commission announced that Bodog is the first bookmaker to obtain a remote and non-remote gambling license. Bodog’s license agreement with Morris Mohawk Gaming would expire after 2011, and Bodog doesn't have plans of renewing. Bodog released this statement about their decision to let their licensing deal expire at the end of the year. “Following recent news that Bodog UK has been granted a gambling license by the UK Gambling Commission, we are very happy to announce further developments to the Bodog brand moving forward. As highlighted a week ago, Bodog UK CEO, Patrik Selin believes the trust and credibility that a UK license brings to the brand will benefit customers and allow him to attract the best talent in the industry to work with.
Bodogs online casino is among the few US casino sites still available to US customers since Black Friday struck the industry back in April. The Bodog Brand exploded over the last couple of years to become the premier online gaming brand. Bodog became synonymous with gambling online in the US. It can now be assumed that their numbers will decline significantly with the impending loss of the US market after the year.
So whats the status of US Casino players who play at bodog?
At first glance this definitely appears to be a shocking development as another major player gets ready to leave the US market, but a close look at this news indicates this may simply be a rebranding issue by the Morris Mohawk Gaming Group. Bodog stated their players will have their accounts and balances transferred to a new brand run by Morris Mohawk Gaming Group. It is supposed to be seamless and you won’t notice a difference with the new brand which has not been formed yet. This is a great relief to US Casinos players as they will not have to moving again to an alternative casino. Given the existing volatility for online gaming in the US, it remains to be seen whether or not the Morris Mohawk Gaming Group will actually follow through and create the new brand.
More Domain Names And Gambling Operations Seized On Gray Monday.
The Department of Justice in Baltimore Maryland Has seized two internet gambling businesses and their international owners as part of a long, undercover sting, details of which were released Monday after 11 associated bank accounts were seized in five countries and 10 Web domain names were shut down. Homeland Security set up a phony payment processing business in Atlantic City and spent two years infiltrating the world of illegal online betting. If convicted of running an illegal gambling business, the defendants face a maximum of five years in prison. Money laundering carries a maximum sentence of 20 years.
The domain names seized were
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Funtimebingo.com
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Goldenarchcasino.com
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Truepoker.com
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Betmaker.com
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Truepoker.com
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Betmaker.com
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Betgrandesports.com
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Doylesroom.com
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Betehorse.com
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BetEd.com
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2Betsdi.com
We have heard many people say they can still access the sites mentioned above, but we believe this is just because it takes a while for the DNS records to take effect. Sometimes we get the dreaded DOJ page and sometimes we don’t. We will see what happens in the coming days.
Several of the domains seized this time were a part of the Yatahay Network like True Poker, Doyles Room, Bookmaker, 2betdsi, Betmaker, Betgrandesports, and Beted. Why so many are from one network in not known, but the spectrum of sites this time is greatly expanded to not just online poker sites, but online casinos, online sports books, and bingo sites.
When Black Friday happened the biggest online poker sites were targeted and soon after left the US market. We have not heard of any of the above mentioned sites leaving the US market as of yet, but would not be surprised to see this happen in the next couple days.
Bookmaker said in an email that business is as usual. As you may already know, Bookmaker has temporarily lost the rights to the Bookmaker.com domain. We are confident that in time, it will be returned to us, until then, we have launched a new, temporary site: www.bmaker.ag.
Check back often as we will be updating the site as the information comes available.
US Still Free to Gamble Online & Bill Side Effects
The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 does not make it a crime for US residents to gamble online; American players are still free to gamble anywhere on the Internet, stated Rick Smith and Keith Furlong, who respectively are the Executive and Deputy Directors of the Interactive Gaming Council (IGC), in a press release this week.
The IGC is a leading trade association for the international interactive gambling industry with its membership operating or supplying services to most of the reputable interactive sites on the Internet.
Their press release continued, saying the bill focuses on the prosecution of financial institutions handling transmission of money from U.S. players to operators of online gambling sites. So some sites may no longer accept wagers, as many of the publicly traded online gambling companies announced they would stop taking American bets following recent passage of the bill by Congress.
But they stressed that the bill will cause unintended negative consequences, in direct opposition to the bill's intent.
"In the guise of protecting vulnerable Americans- minors who want to gamble and adults who can't control their gambling - Congress has actually heightened the risk to these groups," said IGC Deputy Director Furlong.
"It has driven away the operators who followed the most socially responsible practices. It has also increased the possibility of online gambling being used for money laundering, because it has outlawed the most easily tracked methods of payment."
"This bill doesn't do anything to protect American consumers who choose to enjoy Internet poker and other games," added Furlong. "But the immediate effect is to drive the industry further underground. Gambling sites will devise new methods for getting money from / to a market where players have shown a resilient demand for this type of entertainment. The sad thing is, however, that many of the largest and most responsible companies, some of whom are major public companies listed on the London Stock Exchange, are being forced to stop providing real-money games."
"With few exceptions, U.S. states have demonstrated over many years that they can successfully regulate the bricks-and-mortar gambling industry," observed IGC Executive Director Smith. "That industry employs thousands of people and generates millions of dollars in tax revenue. The same principles could have been followed in the Internet gambling industry. With licensing and rigorous regulation of online gambling sites, rather than futile attempts at prohibition, governments can ensure that games are fair, operators are honest and solvent and vulnerable players are protected. And the governments could have reaped millions in taxes."
The IGC acknowledges that the Internet raises unique regulation challenges, but criticized Congress for having no interest to take any steps to study those issues. They especially criticized Congress for rejecting several attempts in the House to amend HR-4411 to include studying the possibility of regulation.
Political motives, including presidential aspirations, clearly drove its rush to pass a prohibition bill, as its members left Washington to hit the campaign trail, the press release stated.
"This was a sneaky election ploy," Furlong said. "Its no coincidence that a ban on Internet gambling is part of the family values' platform of the extreme right, which wants to distract voters from real problems, such as the war in Iraq, and at the same time impose its moral agenda on Americans, depriving them of their freedom of choice."
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee, who led the last minute weekend maneuver to append the Gambling Act onto an important Port Security bill, said, "Gambling is a serious addiction that undermines the family, dashes dreams and frays the fabric of society."
The IGC press release points out the hypocracy of such bill supporters, citing how exemptions for Internet wagering on horse races, fantasy sports and lotteries, amongst other forms, were built into their bill. In many states, people are free to gamble online as much as they want on U.S. horse races and state lotteries. In fact, in a research report in March, an investment bank stated: The U.S. horseracing industry now generates over 15% of its revenue from online wagers. The IGC release postulated that the horse racing lobby is simply too powerful for Congress to oppose.
"What a contrast between the U.S., which after all went through a notoriously unsuccessful attempt to ban alcohol, and Britain, which is methodically preparing to license and regulate online gambling, starting next year," Smith said
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