The Federal Government’s Role in Regulating Online Gambling

The Internet has spawned a new industry, online gambling. These businesses offer a wide variety of online casino games, sports betting and virtual poker.

The laws governing these activities vary from state to state. Some states have legalized them while others prohibit them entirely. There are also some countries that restrict online gambling completely.

However, in the United States, the legality of online gambling is primarily a matter of state law. In many cases, the state law that governs a particular game may be a good indicator of its legitimacy.

One of the most significant statutes in regulating online gambling in the United States is the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA). This act is a federal law that criminalizes gambling on the Internet. It has seven provisions that make it illegal to operate a business that engages in unlawful Internet gambling.

While this act does not specifically target the most popular form of online gambling, it does contain certain criteria for weeding out low-level gambling cases. As with other statutes, UIGEA is designed to keep out the bad actors.

The most notable part of this statute is the way it interacts with the state laws that govern gambling. For example, the state of New York considers the act of transmitting information from New York via the Internet to be a gambling activity.

Other federal laws that have been implicated in this area include the Wire Act, the Illegal Gambling Business Act, and the Travel Act. Each law has been criticized for its lack of enforcement, but it appears that the commercial nature of this industry satisfies the Commerce Clause.