Wagering in Second Life, Foreign Transaction Fees

Can the US Government help me learn to fly to work? Man. That would be FUN!! I have to go around a little bay now, but I could cut across it and shave time off my commute. Maybe drop some crab pots on the way in and pick them up on the way home. If I fly out of work on a Friday night and go have a few beers with the guys, then fly home, can I get arrested for FUI? Flying under the influence? Is the limit .08 like it is for cars?

Hmm...I have to figure out who Cherry works for now. It's like I'm Scooby Doo trying to put together the clues.

That's the rub, even if the dullards in DC green light it, each state would have the right to decide And then cities within States can decide.....then.......

DC is never going to be able to do a whole lot about it because of this exact reason. But individual states aren't going to be able to do much to enforce it, either. If DC green lights online gambling, then the UIGEA goes away. The purpose of the UIGEA, unstated or not was to throttle online gaming at a choke point, the banks. The feds knew that flat outlawing online gaming was a no go. There are literally millions of people in the US who were gambling online either in poker rooms, sports books, or online casinos, and there is no way to round them up. ISPs can't even effectively block access to child porn sites, let alone gambling sites. Shutting down the operators is impossible because they are all offshore in jurisdictions which favor them and which couldn't care less about the US. But gaming relies on the ability to move funds around. Winners need to cash out, casual players who just use it for entertainment need to reload, etc. Banks are subject to strict federal regulation already, so it's a natural choke point for the industry. Hence the UIGEA.

Staes won't have the same success. They can regulate what happens in their own state, but it's pretty easy to locate an account in a state that is friendly to online gambling, then transfer funds electronically to that bank, then to the gaming site. Problem solved. ISP's are also multistate organizations, so regulating them at the state level is problematic. Collecting individual players? Forget about it. It's impossible to identify them and even if you could round them up, it wouldn't be politically prudent to spend resources rounding up folks who aren't hurting anyone when those resources could be spent trying to shut down meth labs or whatever the political hot button is at the moment.

Wow - long post. Cliff Notes: Regulation at the federal level is very difficult, but at the state level would be unenforceable to the point of being laughable.

Online gambling is illegal on a federal level, so even if a state were to legalize it, you could still be brought up on federal charges... am I wrong?

I know there are some bills being proposed that could legalize online gambling in the US again, but with a lot more oversight and some extra taxes (for flavor).

Is it illegal? Or illegal for banks to make payments to gambling sites? or both?

You're wrong. Online sports betting is illegal under the Wire Act. The UIGEA limits banks ability to transfer funds to gaming sites, so online betting with real money is more difficult than it used to be, but is still pretty easy.

I'm ok with taxes and oversight if that's what it takes for a definitive law on online gaming.