Legality of Promoting Gambling

[Megenoita]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
(i have also heard that any form of rakeback is illegal, as you are sharing in some of the casino's profits.)

[/ QUOTE ]
Sounds like a huge stretch. Am I sharing in GM's profits when I receive a rebate check after buying a car? Does it matter whether the check came directly from GM or indirectly by way of the dealer?

Seems to me that the player is a customer and any share of the rake he receives is a rebate, discount, or bonus/comp.

Receiving a share of another person's rake seems much more problematic.

Of course there is about zero case law on any of this. But the sheer ambiguity of the situation is likely to protect a criminal defendent.

[/ QUOTE ]

Steller's post was the most helpful. I've written the author of that site linked above, and he responded that online gambling is illegal (and therefore someone promoting something illegal is a crime). However, although the Justice Department views online poker as illegal, there is zero case law, and therefore it is a matter of interpretation of the law. So from my point of view, it's fine for me to interpret the law differently than the Justice Department until proven otherwise. For instance, in 2002 Virginia attempted to pass an anti-online gambling law so that they could actually prosecute people for it, and it failed to pass.