Sports gambling laws differ from country to country. In the US, sports gambling is considered illegal practically in most states save some like Nevada, Montana etc. The legality and general acceptance of sports betting is extremely regulated in numerous European countries though not criminalized, but Europeans must know how to bet tax free – excellent info at GertGambell.net. “Sports gambling” is considered by legalized sports gambling proponents as a sports hobby for sports enthusiasts to enhance their interest in a sporting event thus being a great benefit to leagues, teams and players etc.
There are many sites that are respectable that do not allow US residents to bet through them but with the advent of the internet and offshore gambling websites it truly is getting tough to govern the sports gambling activities of Americans. For quite a while 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 was not yet invented during those times, legal experts today question whether regulations actually pertained to the internet services or otherwise.
The Justice Department of America however claimed the Wire Act did relate to all types of online or internet gambling. In 2006, The congress wrote the SAFE Port Act and passed it to raise the US port security. Attached with this was the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act that prohibited US residents from usage of electronic fund transfer or checks, credit cards etc to finance any internet gambling activity.
What was important was the reality that the act dealt just with the funding of internet gambling accounts rather than the actual placing of the bet. Thus an online betting law attorney Lawrence Walters stated that the bill that was passed had no effect on the gambling activity of the person but centered only around the restriction of specific transactions that were financial and relating to 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 and not the specific 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 frame Rep.es McDermott introduced the Internet Gambling Regulation and Tax Enforcement Act to regulate betting sites online and collect tax on all bets made.
The country of Antigua and Barbuda in 2003 registered a complaint against the US with the World Trade Organization that 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 initial ruling was upheld on plenty of occasions. The WTO awarded Antigua and Barbuda trade sanctions worth $21 million and the right to penalize the US copyright and trademark laws.
