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Originally Posted by sdaddy
[SIZE="4"]Can the United States handcuff online wagering?.........
Prosecutors argue that the Wire Act of 1961 prohibits not just Internet sports betting but also casino games, including online poker. Some industry executives, legal experts and analysts, even those without a vested interest, say it is not clear that the Wire Act was intended to cover those casino games......
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Back in 1961, it wasn't possible to "wire" a slot machine bet or to place bets on a blackjack deck, or to "wire" a throw of the dice. How would you have been able to confirm the results of the bets if you couldn't see them? There were no personal closed circuit TV hooked up between you and the casino just for your own personal use. The Internet didn't exist back then...it was just an idea in little Al Gore's mind.
The Wire Act of 1961 was established for the purpose of cracking down on sports betting and organized crime's involvement with it. Sports betting is more social, involving many people's money on team games that were televised, radio-ed, and the results published in the newspapers. Casino games were limited to the casinos in Las Vegas and other minor places and impossible to use the telephone for playing such games. To say that the Wire Act also covers the Internet which wasn't invented yet and covers casino games which wasn't possible or feasible back then is stretching the truth.
Now if organized crime is still prevalent within the sports-betting arena, then perhaps the
intent of the Wire Act could be played upon by prosecutors but eventually the Act should be updated to present reality of the Internet and other means of communications.
Another reality though is that organized crime may not be prevalent in sports-betting as it once was. The bigger online sports-betting companies are regulated by other countries and listed on stock exchanges. Much bigger thieves work on US soil for Enrons, and Worldcoms and possible money-laundering through the commodity exchanges of Chicago and New York.