Internet play legal? I need help in an argument

[Webster]

I'm having a small confrontation with others. They say that internt play will get you busted and it's totally illegle.

I've been doing this for a while now and need some fuel for the argument.

Suggestions? comments? One guys SAYS he's a lawyer and that's it's illegel.

[Piers]

Where are you?

[Webster]

Does it matter. I know NY has a problem but again - where are the laws!!

[ramjam]

</font><blockquote><font class="small">En réponse à:</font><hr />
Does it matter. I know NY has a problem but again - where are the laws!!

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, it does matter. I'm in London and I can assure you it's legal here.

If you are in the USA, I think you might find that, apart from any federal legislation, there are different laws about gambling in different states.

[Sleepy Weasel]

If poker rooms are legal in your state, does that make online poker legal also? I'm in California, and I can drive 30 miles north to play poker in a card room (not in an indian casino either). Hard to see how it could be justified as illegal to do it from my home.

[mrbaseball]

I look at it this way. Moneymaker (and several others) were all over national TV after winning seats to the wsop on the internet. The fact that these seats were won on the internet was well publisized. These players wore internet logos and touted internet poker on espn.

Moneymaker won big money. No one came after him. No law enforcement tried to arrest him for playing "illegal" internet poker even though it was well publisized that it was how he got in the big tournament. Therefore by this exclusion internet poker seems legal to me. If they ignore the most famous incident of online poker after it was broadcast and documented all over national television what are they gonna do to you and me?

[astroglide]

the irs has provisions to file taxes even for illegal activities, and they're not authorized to report the information to other government agencies. as long as you're paying uncle sam, i don't think they're going to be interested in you - only in the gaming sites themselves (through choking out methods of deposit/withdrawal).

[Bill Haywood]

Some states have passed laws specifically outlawing internet betting. If you are in one (check) then your lawyer friend is correct.

If there is no state law, then your lawyer friend does not know what he is talking about, because federal law is ambiguous. The relevant federal law is the 1963 wire act. This law has always been applied to outfits that TAKE bets. The Bush administration takes the position that placing bets is also illegal, but this has not been tested on an internet case, and is contrary to previous precedent, in which people who PLACED bets on the phone were ruled to be outside the jurisdiction of the 1963 Wire Act.

As of today, no one has ever been arrested under federal law for PLACING bets over the internet. There have been arrests of bookies/casino operators. It is conceivable that Attorney General Ashcroft might decide to pursue a test case against a bettor, and it is conceivable that it might be you, but those are long odds and the extent of your current jeopardy.

[Webster]

I disagree - well - sort of LOL - I thought the internet was an interstate commerce and thus there are no binding state laws.

[Cyndie]

Very good points considering we have laws and constitutional protections giving us equal protection and protections against self incrimination...and you hit on the *biggie*...why would they go after anyone who is paying taxes?