Sports betting laws differ from country to country. In the United States, sports gambling is considered illegal in most states save a few 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 regarded by legalized sports gambling proponents as a sports hobby for sports fans to enhance their fascination with a sporting event thus becoming a big benefit to leagues, teams and players etc.
There are plenty of sites that happen to be respectable that do not allow US residents to bet through them although with the appearance of the internet and offshore gambling websites it is getting more tough to govern the sports gambling actions of Americans. For quite a while the US argued against the internet gambling legal issues by citing the Interstate Wire Act of 1961 passed to stop sports gambling activities between the states by using wire containing devices and the telephone. Because the internet was not yet invented during those times, legal experts today question whether regulations actually pertained to the net services or otherwise.
The Justice Department of America however claimed the Wire Act did refer to all types of online or internet gambling. In 2006, The congress wrote the SAFE Port Act and passed it to increase the United States port security. Attached to this was the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act that prohibited US residents from usage of electronic fund transfer or checks, credit cards etc to fund any internet betting activity.
The thing that was important was the fact that the act dealt just with the funding of internet betting accounts and not the specific placing of the bet. Therefore an Internet gambling law attorney Lawrence Walters stated that this bill that was passed had no effect on the gambling activity of the individual but centered only around the restriction of certain transactions that were financial and relating to the banks and internet gambling sites. Thus the bill failed to make internet gambling illegal but it made funding ones bet or wager on the web sites illegal criminalizing the financial transaction instead of the specific act of betting by way of the individual.
Rep Barney Frank then introduced in 2007, the Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act as a way to legalize internet sports gambling and at the same time Rep.es McDermott introduced the Internet Gambling Regulation and Tax Enforcement Act to control betting sites online and collect tax on all bets made.
The nation of Antigua and Barbuda in 2003 filed a complaint against the US with the World Trade Organization the US (based on their sports gambling laws and ban on betting on the internet) violated their WTO rights. The WTO ruled in their favor and though the United States 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.
