US Enforcing Internet Ban

The United States has taken several steps to deter online gambling. First they passed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) and the president signed it. Then they let it be known that they would go after anyone who tried to get around the ban by gambling or by offering gambling to the American people.

Now they have started arresting people saying that they are simply “protecting” the American people from themselves. In July, they arrested David Carruthers, the CEO of BetonSports, in Dallas. They did this even before the ban was passed citing the Wire Act of 1961. They said that he was breaking federal racketeering laws by taking bets and wagers over the internet.

Then in January they arrested two former executives of NETeller still using the Wire Act even though the UIGEA had been passed. They said that the executives were moving billions of dollars of illegal gambling proceeds. NETeller was a publicly traded UK online money transfer company, and it moved $5.1 billion during just the first half of 2006.

They have issued subpoenas to other banks, saying that they were participants in illegal gambling by underwriting those attempts at continuing online gambling. NETeller released a statement saying that it would no longer process US customers’ gambling revenue, but there are other companies who are more than willing to take over where they left off.

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