It’s a common fact that for many Americans, gambling online is either prohibited or not worthy, as due to the UIGEA act of 206, they can not legally receive their earnings through any of the classic payment methods.
The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006, commonly referred as UIGEA act, applied to all the online gambling operators who used any type of financial tools to fund their clients’ accounts. The UIGEA act is not the only one that regulates gambling within the US borders (as it only targets the online gambling sector), as there are also federal anti-lottery laws (for those interested about it, the sections 1301 and 1302 of t
he 18th title of the United States Code regulate several gambling aspects), but also the Gambling Ship Act, that regulates all the gambling activities that take place on the sea within the territorial waters of the US.
In simple words, gambling is legally restricted within the US borders. However, this doesn’t mean it’s completely forbidden. There are only two states, Utah and Hawaii, that forbid any kind of gambling/betting activity, even the ones for charitable causes. The other ones do not restrict gambling itself, but only some certain types of betting. For instance, in Washington only the racetracks are forbidden, while the rest of the commercial betting forms are 100% legal.
Coming back to the UIGEA act of 2006, it is important to understand that it does not target directly the gamblers/bettors. In fact, betting online is legal in all the American States. However, the Enforcement Act makes impossible for the casinos to pay their users’ earnings. This is exactly the reason why most of the online casinos that were functioning in 2006 had to stop the services (only the ones that involved real money) to their American clients.
However, there are some parts in the UIGEA act and in the federal laws that are not very specific. These parts were used in order to create legal breaches that in turn were used to offer again gambling services (involving real money) to the American users without risking anything. This is why there are several USA online casinos that operate 24/7 100% legal. They are able to receive and send payments to their users and are also able to offer their clients an extremely accurate casino-like experience without asking them to get out of the house.
