Bitcoin & USA
Online Gambling
Bitcoin has
proven to be
quite a powerful force in the online casino arena.
Many off shore
casinos accept bitcoin payments now. One question
for most folks is
whether or not bitcoin gambling is even legal in
their region. This
question is particularly valid in the United States,
as things are not
as black-and-white in America by any means.
The truth is Bitcoin gambling is really no different
than any other
gambling as far as USA players are concerned. At the
end of the day the
same laws apply to Bitcoin wagering as they do with
any other type of
internet gambling. Basically, what the law states
about online gambling
in the United States is that it's illegal to accept
wagers, but it's
not illegal to place them. This is the exact reason
why the gambling
sites that accept USA players are exclusively
located offshore so they
don't run afoul of the strict regulations.
Bitcoin gambling is tied up closely with the laws
with online gambling
as a whole. The thirsty desire of the U.S. Federal
and State
governments for tax revenue, sometimes coupled with
moralistic views
about gambling, is what makes it somewhat difficult
to gamble online in
the United States. The main law covering online
gambling is the
Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006.
This law targets
any business that takes online payment for gambling
purposes. Many
lawmakers were worried that online gambling sites
outside of the reach
of government oversight could be a way to launder
money. With the
worries about terrorism at the time, the law passed
pretty easily.
The law doesn’t specifically target digital
currencies nor does it
target individual gamblers. So, technically, there’s
nothing stopping
any USA citizen from going to a BitCoin
Casino and
having some fun, but there is a huge risk for the
casino
operators. The law made it illegal for banks to
process transactions
for online gambling businesses, effectively shutting
off the flow of
U.S. dollars to the gambling websites.
Legitimate Bitcoin casino operators such as Ignition
Casino have
well established trustworthy gaming policies. They
also
maintain very high standards in providing
fairness on all their
games. The blockchain reinforces transaction
fairness while allowing
immediate deposits and more importantly quick and
easy withdrawals.
Above all, the whole process is totally anonymous.
Plus, there is a
second ruling that protects players, specifically
players of online
poker. In 2012, poker was declared a game of skill,
not of luck. This
took poker out of the realm of gambling in a
technical sense. This
means only the parts of the law regarding banks and
handling
transactions to gambling businesses only applied to
operators who did
not offer the game of poker.
There are still very few casino operators willing to
operate openly in
the U.S., forcing most players who want to play to
find operators
licensed in other countries, but gambling licensing
laws in different
countries vary widely. Some of the most trusted
Bitcoin casinos use
geoblocking just so they can cover their legal
backside, but that’s not
stopping some people from using VPN
software
compatible with Bitcoin to play on sites that are
geoblocked.
Individual gamblers are currently safe from
governmental scrutiny, but
even that situation can change at any given moment
in time. Just be
aware of any future changes & in the meantime
happy online crypto
currency gambling;-)
Sam Becker
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