US House of Representatives Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank is preparing legislation that would repeal the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, the US law that bans non-skill based internet gambling.

The move follows reports that EU could file a World Trade Organization complaint over the law, which forbids European companies offering online gambling to Americans. The ban has more famously resulted in European citizens being jailed and fined in the United States for allowing Americans to play on their sites, despite the sites being completely legal and regulated in the EU countries they are hosted in.

According to Reuters, the bill may be presented to the US House of Representatives in the next month.

Silicon Alley Insider reports that the ban would legalize online poker, but this is incorrect. Online poker in the United States is already legal (although it can’t be directly advertised, hence the .net free to play ads) with the current ban only applying to non-skilled games, such as casino style games.

Hopefully a repeal will put pressure on other countries, in particular Australia to repeal similar bans. Legal casino style online gaming based in the United States would have trade implications for countries such as Australia that have free trade agreements with the United States.

Push to repeal US Internet Gambling Ban, vote could happen in March is a post from: The Inquisitr

Anurag Dikshit, the founder of the online gaming site PartyGaming has pleaded guilty to illegal internet gambling and will pay a staggering $300 million in fines.

Under a deal with prosecutors, Dikshit faces a maximum two years behind bars by pleading guilty to one count of violating the Wire Act.

The thing that is amazing about this case, and US gambling rules in general is the way it has been applied. Dikshit is a resident of the United Kingdom and Gibraltar and PartyGaming is not a US based company. Under US laws, it is illegal for a company with no residency in the United States to offer online gambling to US players, even when the service is completely legal where the company is based. The short version: you can be minding your business in a legal activity, but be charged under US law for taking bets from US players even if doing so is completely legal where you are.

The hypocrisy is even more rich when you consider that gambling offline is legal in many US States, and a big money earner.

If you’re in the United States, imagine walking out the front door and crossing the road, jaywalking in front of a British citizen, and then finding yourself charged under British law because jaywalking in front of a British Citizen in the United States is illegal in the UK. It may sound far fetched, but the gambling bans are not that far removed.

PartyGaming has naturally now stopped taking bets from US players, as many in the industry already have.

PartyGaming Head Guilty of allowing Americans to Gamble is a post from: The Inquisitr