Online and Offshore: Online Casinos Skirt American Laws
Online casinos are popular and becoming more so. It is estimated that 160 million people will be playing in online casinos by the year, 2020. According to Will Gatten of www.sportscrew.com, by 2008, online poker revenues – that’s just poker, not the other games like blackjack, craps, and roulette - will exceed $275 billion dollars, with not a cent of it in taxes coming into the United States. Why is that? Because online casinos are offshore operations, located in about 76 different foreign countries (as of October, 2005) to avoid U. S. gambling and tax laws. Another reason why they are so popular from an industry point of view is that they are cheap. Steve Wynn opened his bricks-and-mortar, Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas in early 2005, at a cost of more than $2 billion dollars. Then he pays an annual fee per slot machine and table, and is taxed on gross revenue. Still another reason is that they can get into business quickly. If someone wanted a new gambling license in Nevada, it may take one to two years of paperwork and investigations, plus a ton of legal fees. An online casino can be opened in Belize in a little over a week with a capitalization of a little over a million for a fee of about $30,000. Oh, and the tax rate in that country? Zip. Steve Wynn, eat your heart out. Gambling PhD.com reports that online gambling casino operator, 888 Holdings Plc, is planning to sell approximately $500 million of its stock in an initial public offering. The casino company has appointed HSBC Holdings Plc to operate the sale. 888 is based in Gibraltar and is estimated to be worth around $1.5 billion when it sells its shares in London on the London Stock Exchange in September of 2005. Online, offshore, and big bucks! Are online casinos good? Bad? Depends who you ask. In the U.S. Congress, efforts continue by Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona and others to enact a law to specifically prohibit internet gaming because it violates federal law. Another concern: for sure, for sure, minors are gambling. Now ask the millions of players from around the world who are online every day, playing their favorite games. A typical poker table may look like a U. N. meeting. Good? Bad? The casinos’ defense is to be located “offshore,” meaning in some foreign country, outside the jurisdiction of U. S. (and other countries which also prohibit gambling) laws. They charter their business in places like Antigua, Costa Rica, Gibraltar, Colombia, and India. The server may be in some other country. Administration may be in a third country, often the United States. See if you can find an online casino that willingly offers this information on its website. Not likely. Since it will be little hard to arrest millions of American bent over their beloved games on a Saturday evening, the efforts to enact new laws are directed at advertisers, credit card companies, and banks. Senator Kyl expresses alarm at the proliferation of casinos and estimates that 2,000 of them are in existence today. His legislation is aimed to curb Internet gambling by requiring credit card companies, and banks refuse payments to online gambling sites. So far, nothing has come of any legislation that would seriously threaten the operation of the offshore casinos. North Dakota State Representative Jim Kasper took a proactive stance when he introduced several bills – the state’s constitution would have to be changed - to allow online casinos in North Dakota. The bill called for regulation, taxation under North Dakota and United States laws, and would create hundreds, maybe thousands of jobs, for North Dakotans. However, in a letter from the United States Department of Justice, North Dakota was warned that the bills could – it didn’t say they would – violate the federal “Wire Act,” which prohibits gambling across state lines. And, of course, if you set up an online casino in Bismarck, North Dakota, how do you keep its activity only within the borders of one state? Representative Jim Kasper intends to push his bills in another session of the legislature. So, stay tuned. It’s unlikely that online and offshore casinos are going to be shut down though some of the ways they receive and return money may be limited if Congress moves on its efforts to limit the activities of U. S. banks and credit card companies. The coast looks clear. “Shuffle up and deal.” © 2005 Murphy James Murphy James is a freelance journalist specializing in the gaming industry. He has been published in men's magazines, gaming publications, business journals, and newspapers. His website is http://www.murphyjames.com His email address is murphyjames@murphyjames.com. His most recent interviews have been with poker pros Barry Greenstein ("Ace on the River") and Jen Harman (one of the players in the richest poker game in history) about their philanthropic activities, and gambler, author, and teacher, Jerry Patterson ("Casino Gambling"), about his blackjack, craps, and roulette systems. |
Other Betting Exchange Articles
Poker Versions - 5 Card Draw PLAYERS: 3 to 6 is ideal.CARDS: Five cards, all down. BETTING: Two rounds plus ante; betting tends to be relatively low.WHAT TO WATCH FOR: Keep a close eye on how many cards each player draws from the deck.WHAT WINS: Usually a high pair or better. Five-card draw, or draw poker, is one of the oldest poker games, and it is ...There's Something About Mary (DVD) Review No doubt the funniest comedy of 1998, and one of the best comedies of the decade, There's Something About Mary launched the careers of stars Ben Stiller and Cameron Diaz into the stratosphere. Directed by Farrelly brothers Bobby and Peter, producers of such films as Dumb & Dumber (1994), Kingpin (1996), and Fever Pitch (2005), There’s Something ...Golf Betting Basics The key to golf betting is differentiating the two main wagering options, so we're here to serve as your gambling caddy and give you helpful tips on how to understand PGA golf odds. With golf, you can either bet on an individual to win a tournament or take part in "Matchup Betting" which involves wagering on artificially created golf matchups se ...Office 2007 Will Have a Steep Learning Curve Get ready for Office 2007, the most sweeping update to Microsoft’s popular suite of productivity applications.An extensive re-education awaits those who will upgrade to the new Office 2007. It’s truly a redesign. The menu bar and navigation buttons for Word, Excel and PowerPoint, for example, look completely different.But before bu ...The Golden Girls (Season 4) DVD Review Making its debut in the fall of 1985, The Golden Girls quickly established itself as a fixture of Saturday night prime time television. Following the lives of four older women living together as roommates in Miami, the show displayed a raw wit and a biting humor. The women live in the house of Blanche Devereaux (Rue McClanahan), a Southern belle ...A Martial Artist's View Of The Film: "Fight Club" “Fight Club” is the kind of film that can make you squirm, belly laugh, and think, “That’s profound!” in the space of a few minutes.Starring Edward Norton and Brad Pitt, this is, on a superficial level, a flick about underground boxing, or if you prefer, brawling clubs.No money changes hands, no betting occurs, and the pugilists’ o ...Minimizing Income Tax Liability Includes Cost Segregation! Cost Segregation is an IRS endorsed tax strategy that is simple and easy to understand. The purpose in having a Cost Segregation Study performed is to allow owners to depreciate their commercial property in a manner that is different from the standard method of accounting, which is 39 years. Let’s face it, if the owner were a 60-year-old propert ...How to Work with Arbitrage Trading Arbitrage trading to most people many seem confusing for someone a first, and look hard. Well its not as hard and confusing as most think. It is quite simple actually. Arbitrage trading is well known around the world, and has many millions of people money for years and years.The number one reason why very few people choose to use a ...The Dish: Not Here To Inject The Past That sound you hear coming from Milwaukee is Bud Selig patting himself on the back.Major League Baseball just passed the "toughest steroid policy in professional sports." Yippee. Pardon me while I turn handsprings. "It was an integrity issue," Selig said Thursday. "The integrity of the sport, the integrity of everybody involved, including ...Understanding Online Casino and Poker Room Bonuses Casino bonuses are when a casino offers a bonus in the form of free money or chips to players. These bonuses are used to entice new players to come into the casino and play their favorite games of chance. These bonuses are also given to current players to thank them and to encourage them to return to play again at another time.Casinos off ...NBA Basketball Betting Do you want to know a little secret? NBA basketball betting can make you a lot of money. NBA basketball is a game that has helped turn sports betting losers into happy sports bettors with larger bankrolls. It’s really no secret to winning sports bettors—NBA basketball is the easiest game to make money at. The game itself gives sports bettors ...Ignorance Is No Longer Bliss There was a time not so long ago, when the most important thing you had to worry about was getting your tax return in on time or what to get everybody for ChristmasNot these days. As communication capacity increases we are becoming more and more a global community. Now, I have to concern myself withminimizing bank fees;the ...The Proliferation Of Sports Betting Online On line sport betting is nothing new to the world of betting ever since the opening of casinos and sports betting sites since the late nineties. Betting on sports, which was once only offered to a few professionals and elite, has transformed into a pastime of millions world wide. It is the sole reason to be attributed to the proliferation of the ...Ambition or Greed? I don't believe in love at first sight - there is no such thing. What you’re actually feeling is lust at first sight. The strong desire you feel for someone that you just met shows itself in the form of lust. If the person you desire is married or other wise unavailable to you in some way then it turns into lustful covetous and greedy desire. ...Intimacy With God Must Mean Something More Than Following the Rules of Religion What comes to mind when you hear the word intimacy? A mental picture I see is two people huddled close together having a personal conversation. Or even deeper, the word intimacy paints a picture of sexual interaction between two lovers. Intimacy is a word that conjures up feelings of closeness, nurture, love, and kindness.Intimacy is a ...Big Brother 7 - Bonnie is Evicted Bonnie Holt became the first housemate to leave the Big Brother house by public vote at a best price of 1/33 on eviction day.Bonnie was actually the third housemate in a week to leave the Big Brother house following Shabaz’s decision to walk and Dawn’s ejection for receiving messages from the outside world. She had the dubious honour of b ...Texas Holdem Rules Texas Holdem poker does not adhere to any universal or standard set of rules. But nonetheless, here are some rules that one of the most reliable sources for Texas Holdem Game Rules prescribes. This group meets mainly to update and elaborate the rules for poker.Some of the general rules go as follows: Games in the United States should use ...The Right Mindset For Sports Betting Sports betting online has become increasingly popular over the years, and these days you can make a wager on almost any type of sporting event. And if it's a hobby for you, chances are you have winning streaks and losing streaks. It's important to look at these experiences in an objective and non-emotional way.Everyone loves a winning str ...American Pie (Movie Review) Nominated for zero Academy Awards, American Pie is a lewd, crude teenage comedy that's probably the funniest movie of 1999. In the tradition of Animal House, Fast Times At Ridgemont High, and other such comedies, the film makes its mark as one of the better written screenplays in the genre. The clever one-liners and memorable scenes are so abund ...A Guide to Common Soccer Betting Terms Accumulator. Sometimes called a parlay. A bet where the winnings from one bet are placed on the next bet. The winnings accumulate, giving a large theoretical return. In reality, not very profitable as it only takes one to lose and your whole bet loses.Arbitrage. A combination of bets which guarantees a theoretical risk free ...Fraudulent Sports Books It’s one thing to have to beat the odds; it’s another to have to beat the book. Betting sports online is a fun and entertaining activity, but danger looms around the corner. Most sports bettors constantly seek out new sports books to play at and to use for line comparisons. However, not all sports books are legitimate—as you can imagine. How ...Starting an E-Commerce Business - Consider which Keywords you will Use How many web sites and web pages exist today? This great question can only be answered by stating an approximate number at a particular time of a given day. Why is this? Because each second of each day brings thousands upon thousands of new web sites and with those web sites brings multiple thousands of new web pages.This startling fact ...What are Betting Exchanges? EXPLANATION AND TACTICSBetting exchanges online were only introduced a few years ago,by British firm Betfair,and have grown so rapidly,that they now,not the bookmakers,set the prices for most sporting events.The bookmakers have to consult and respond to what is happening on the exchanges.Even if you have never had a bet on the exch ...Trading Software – Profit Machines or Losers? Thousands of people every day trade on the worlds stock markets, with the majority now using software to aid them, but does it help them make more money?This software is known as a ‘bot’, short for robot, but it is only ever as good as the user. If the user does not know how to trade successfully on his own in the first place then he is u ...Wall Street to Main Street: News, Views and Commentary: June 12, 2006 It’s Monday June 12, 2006, and the Dow gave up over 350 points last week as investors continue to be on the fence as it relates to a potential interest rate hike here in the United States. Global Markets have already shifted, from Europe to Asia, interest rate hikes occurred across the board.A big factor for the U.S. is this Tuesday as th ...Honeymoon In Vegas (Movie Review) One romantic comedy often overlooked by fans of cinema is Honeymoon In Vegas, a light-hearted, feel-good movie about two lovers overwhelmed by the temptations of Las Vegas. A relatively early film in the careers of both Nicholas Cage and Sarah Jessica Parker, Honeymoon In Vegas should have been early indicator to audiences everywhere that these ...Casino Games - Blackjack Whether you’re new to casino gaming or a casino veteran, blackjack is one of the simplest and most fun card games casinos have to offer. The objective in blackjack is to beat the dealer by getting a hand as close to 21 as possible without going over. To play casino blackjack, you need only a basic understanding of the rules and a desire to have ...The Tattoo That Pays You It all started with Forehead Goldie, a Utah woman named Karolyne Smith who agreed to have GoldenPalace.com permanently tattooed on her forehead for $10,000 in order to pay for her child to go to school. Since then, GoldenPalace.com, the online casino and poker room more famous for its publicity stunts than its games, has capitalized on what may ...Online Sports Betting Betting on the results of sporting events has always been a popular hobby. Now with the Internetand online betting facilities, placing a bet has become easier than ever before.A wager can be placed in the usual manner like with a bookmaker or through the bet exchange, a new innovation on the Internet. Through this, individuals can place b ...
|
