THE PROBLEM FOR AFFILIATES, operators, payment processors and even players is that the world has become unpredictable, because the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) has decided to wage a war of intimidation against Internet gambling. The reasons for the war are clear. The DoJ is missing the two essentials to any prosecution: a statute that clearly makes the activity illegal and a defendant physically present in the US. So, the feds have announced showy legal actions against easy targets about every other year.
Online poker would normally not be an easy target, since a Court of Appeals ruled the main federal anti-gambling statute, the Wire Act, is limited to bets on sports events and races. And the US does not allow trials in absentia: a defendant must be physically present in court. The US cannot extradite someone unless he falls under the terms of an extradition treaty. Very few treaties include 'gambling' on their list of crimes. Even then, the activity must be illegal in both countrie...[more]
