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It is a general understanding the online casinos are illegal in the United States.  However, there are no laws in the books that clearly state the online casinos or internet gambling is illegal.  Hopefully, if Congressman Barney Frank is successful, there will be a bill by the end of the year that expressly states that online casinos are a legal and regulated industry in the United States.

There are a lot of interest groups working against online casinos and they tend to attack the industry from behind two laws: the Wire Act of 1961 and the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006.

Neither one of these laws clearly states online casinos as illegal or even defines what unlawful Internet gambling is to be considered.  The Wire Act, obviously since it was composed back before the advent of the personal computer, has nothing to do with the Internet.  The law was written to prevent bookies from taking bets over the phone lines.  Since the Department of Justice, especially under President Bush, has attempted to bastardize and twist the law into being anti online casino legislation.

The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, although the name indicates otherwise, does not actually outlaw online casinos or Internet gambling.  The law was designed as a ban, forbidding banks, credit card companies, and other financial institutions from processing transaction from online casinos.  But there are several online casinos operating within a legal loophole and allowing players to deposit real money into their players account with out using banned payment processing methods.

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