The legality of online casinos in the United States is a subject of much debate. While some states have passed lAWS legalizing casinos, others have not.
Additionally, many online casino operators operate in jurisdictions that do not have legal casinos, so their operations may be legal.
The legality of online gambling in the United States is a complicated issue. Most states have not passed lAWS specifically legalizing online gambling, but some have interpreted general gambling lAWS to include online casino activities.
There is also a lack of uniformity in how state law enforcement agencies treat online gambling businesses, which has led to uncertainty for both operators and players about the legality of these businesses.
In December 2006, New Jersey became the first state to legalize online casino gaming through a legislative act. Nevada followed suit in October 2007 with a similar bill. The legality of online casinos in other states is less clear.
In Illinois, for example, a 2006 law prohibits any form of wagering on sporting events or contests outside licensed facilities, including Internet cafes and Web sites. This would seem to prohibit online casinos from operating in Illinois, but the law has not been consistently enforced and some operators have successfully operated there.
In April 2009, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) issued a memorandum stating that “the federal law that regulates interstate commerce does not prohibit companies from conducting business with players located outside of the company’s own state.” This memorandum clarified previous DOJ rulings that stated companies were allowed to operate within state borders as long as they did not take players from one state and deposit them into another without consent or violate other anti-gambling lAWS.
This was seen as a victory for the operators of offshore casinos who had been operating outside US jurisdiction for years. However, this ruling does not explicitly legalize online gambling in the United States and it remains illegal under federal law to transfer money from one location to another to gamble without proper licensing from tribal or state authorities.
Based on these results it seems that while there is no definitive answer as to whether or not online casino gaming is legal in all 50 U.S states at this time, it seems that it is tolerated by some authorities and illegal under others – but overall still permissible under federal law if operated within state borders without taking players out of their jurisdiction or transferring money illegally.
