One place I would start is Nelson Rose's column in Card Player. Get an overview of some of the issues by looking at his archives if you can. You will also have to look at the federal laws on gambling, the sports betting ban, the wire act, the new anti-terrorism bill. Do some research on the offshore bookie indicted and convicted in the US (San Francisco I think). I have not fully researched the legality or the nuances of the applicable laws myself - I stopped my analysis when I answered my own questions. This could be an interesting topic for a paper, but you will have to do some hard work to make it interesting. Don't just solicit internet opinions. :-)