Rough Guide to the Port Security Act
Those of you who browse through Winningstart now and again may be surprised that I have not said anything about the Port Security Act or its implications on Online Gaming as yet. The reason I have not is I had been holding off to see what the true effects of the legilslation would be.
Loads and loads of e-ink has been spilled debating aspects of this Act often with very little understanding of what it actually involves and means.
Firstly the Act will not be in force for probably arroundf 250 days or so. In terms of what its legalistic effects are there is a while before it changes anything.
Here is a rough guide to what the effects of the Act have been so far and will be when it comes into force.
The Act does not make it clear whether or not it is illegal to gamble in the USA online. What it certainly does not do is CHANGE the legal position on this matter.
What the Act does do is make it harder for people to get money into poker sites AND it makes it harder for some sites who are not based in the USA to deal with USA accounts. When I say it makes it "harder" it will in some cases make it against USA laws to do so. This means that public limited companies and companies that are part of larger conglomerates with US links will often feel they need to honor these laws or there might be unplesant consequences.
Whether USA would be able to successfully be able to extradite people/firms in breach of the US laws (but committing no crimes in there own countries) remains to be seen but it is understandable that some firms do not want to bet on this or risk the posibility of prosecution of their employees, particularly if they feel like a holiday in the USA.
The Act is arbitary in what it includes and excludes. Horse Racing is allowed but NFL is not (heavy lobbying). Fantasy football (with real $$ wagers) is allowed where poker is not. But bare in mind I am only talking about what is covered by the Act not what is legal or illegal
There is a chance that the Act will be challenged by the WTO as it is very probably against various international trade agreements that the USA has signed up to.
Anyone who has read the above might pause and think what is all the fuss about and why is there so much panic in the industry at the moment?
Well the answer is simply two fold. Firstly it has been unclear for a while whether or not gambling online in the USA was legal or illegal. You will have seen various messages along the lines of "keep poker legal" but they are missing the point. Poker is not neccisarly legal online and in several states it is clearly illegal. People make the mistake of thinking that the laws that preexisted before the internet do not apply to the internet. It took a while before firms started defending copyright infringements online and it is taking a while before online gambling is being attacked but the time is now. It is not absolutely clear that online gambling is illegal in EVERY state in the USA and indeed in some states it may actually be legal but it is likely that in much of the USA it is actually against the law. Its just noone has really done much about it.
The second part of this is that the tide is now changing. The combination of the Port Security Act, the arrest of the guy from Sporting odds (even although this was on a tecnicallity dealing with the Wire Act rather than online gambling directly) as well as a few other legislative and presidential mutterings are suggesting that gambling is next.
What has actually happened. Four different responses have been made to this Act
a) we will carry on with business as usual
b) we have now left or will be leaving the US market on such and such a date
c) the 11 state position - Paradise and Prima have treated 11 states with specific antigambling online legislation differently that the other sites. Whilst it is not clear there is any real difference in legal position between these states and some others these firms have stopped taking bets from these states. Paradise will be stopping taking US wagers some time in november
d) We will stay until the Act comes into force
Many sites have left the US market. People are badmouthing a lot of these sites but whilst in terms of the port security act they are acting hastily they are not wanting to risk prosecutions etc if their current trading was going to be regarded as illegal and they thought they might face procecution. So I think this is rather unfair.
The future
In the short term there will be fewer well established companies dealing with online poker and gaming with USA people. They will often be relying on smaller, less well established and less well financed companies.
The legal position on online gambling in the USA will eventually become clear. Firms that have left the US market may return if the legal position allows them to.
Firms will continue to allow people to gamble online whether this is legal in terms of US laws or not
There will be a small reduction in online players due to a believe (wrongly held) that the recent legislation makes their activities illegal (they might already be illegal but there is no real connection with the Act). Also it will be slightly harder for people to get $$ online for gaming so this will deter a few (but only a few). There will also be less lucrative deals for USA players as untill the legal position is either clarified in favor of online gambling or changed in its favour.
Beyond that we will just have to wait and see. It seems unlikely that legislators and courts will be targeting the players and punters so you can be reasonably safe in continuing to gamble even though you might be breaking laws. The middlemen and companies are the ones that are being targeted
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