Sports betting laws differ from country to country. In the US, sports gambling is regarded as illegal practically in most states save a few like Nevada, Montana etc. The legitimacy and general acceptance of sports gambling is extremely regulated in numerous European countries though not criminalized, but Europeans must know how to bet tax-free – great info at GertGambell.net. “Sports gambling” is regarded by legalized sports gambling proponents as a sports hobby for sports fans to increase their fascination with a sporting event thus being a great benefit to leagues, teams and players etc.
There are many sites that happen to be respectable that do not allow US citizens to bet through them although with the advent of the internet and offshore gambling sites it is getting tough to govern the sports gambling actions of Americans. For quite a while the US argued against the internet gambling legalities by citing the Interstate Wire Act of 1961 passed to halt sports gambling activities between states by making use of wire containing devices and the telephone. Considering that the internet had not been yet invented at that time, legal experts today question whether the law actually pertained to the net services or otherwise.
The Justice Department of the US 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 it 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 gambling activity.
What was important was the fact that the act dealt only with the funding of internet betting accounts rather than the specific placing of the bet. Therefore an online betting law attorney Lawrence Walters stated that this bill which was passed had no effect on the gambling activity of the individual but focused only around the restriction of certain transactions which were financial and concerning 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 actual 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 frame Rep.es McDermott introduced the Internet Gambling Regulation and Tax Enforcement Act to regulate betting sites on the web and collect tax on all bets made.
The country of Antigua and Barbuda in 2003 filed a complaint against the US with the World Trade Organization that the US (based upon their sports gambling laws and ban on gambling on the internet) violated their WTO rights. The WTO ruled for their favor and though the US appealed the original ruling was upheld on lots of occasions. The WTO awarded Antigua and Barbuda trade sanctions worth $21 million and the right to penalize the US copyright and trademark laws.