I want to create a website to promote online gambling to people who live in jurisdictions where online gambling is not illegal. Before creating the website, I did some research to find out if advertising online gambling through a website located in the US is illegal. In short, it seems that it is still not illegal. It’s kind of a gray area right now. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is the regulatory body responsible for the Internet.
communications
As a new webmaster with a new online gambling website, I find this to be a great help.
and a bane, which is addressed below. The FCC is, of course, a federal agency, which thinks of
In that context I did not consider the state level. Although federal laws and regulations
State and local laws and regulations.
How did I come to think of Washington State laws and regulations, when in fact the FCC is
in charge of the Internet. This is what happened!
On 7-7-05 I posted on a gambling webmaster forum requesting a ‘Site Review’ and received
some constructive tips on my website. Please note that I started loading the site on 6-14-05
so the site had been on the Internet for only three weeks. I wasn’t getting any traffic.
except for me and the forum gambling webmasters and some affiliate managers whose
program that I applied.
I was hesitant about posting on a gambling webmaster forum, thinking that if the
The federal government wanted to prosecute or harass gambling website owners residing in the
(USA), a gambling webmaster forum would be a good place for them to keep an eye on, so to speak.
Also, this forum is an organization that deals with Gambling Casino merchants on behalf of
Betting website owners, many members.
Hoping to get into the big 3 search engines I checked my traffic stats, there wasn’t much
to look. A section of the statistics page (Country) lists which countries the visitors are from.
from. The list of countries looked like this on 8-7-05.
Country
1 network
2 Unresolved/Unknown
3 US commercial
4 Non-profit organization
5 Israel
6 Australia
7 Seychelles
8 Canada
9 Denmark
10 Hungary
11 Sweden
12 Singapore
13 United Kingdom
On July 9, 2005, Country had an additional entry, US Government, and looked like this.
1 network
2 Unresolved/Unknown
3 US commercial
4 Non-profit organization
5 Israel
6 Australia
7 Seychelles
8 Canada
9 Denmark
10 Hungary
11 Sweden
12 Singapore
13 United Kingdom
14 US Government
Looking at the new ‘US Government’ entry first thing in the morning my mind started spinning
with ‘what if’ and my stomach feels a little queasy, I couldn’t help but wonder if
I was standing up, my legs would shake. Should I have avoided posting on Gambling
webmaster forum and hopefully ‘under the radar’ or is it just a coincidence right?
just paranoid?
At 7am the coffee is still heating up and with this revelation my mind is racing, my stomach
unstable. I needed to grab a cup of coffee and a cigarette and go out to the patio for a drink.
a few moments of reflection. As I stood up and looked out the window directly in front of me,
saw an unmarked white police patrol car with a plainclothes driver driving very slowly
past my house
Now the legs are shaking! my first thought is, should i get some dark rum in the
cupboard to fortify my coffee. No, it’s too soon for Rum. In the yard I nervously drag myself
my cigarette and can only take a sip of the hot coffee. Cursing myself for not adding the rum, until
less cooling the coffee. I needed a few quick drinks to replace the restless feeling in my
stomach with something warm and nice.
Questioning the circumstances, a gambling website, my research, the forum post, ‘EE. USA
Government visitor in traffic records, unmarked police car. This was
just a couple of matches. It was definitely an unmarked car, the law enforcement type.
uses, not from EPA or county employees reviewing your area. Was the unmarked car federal or could the feds have contacted the local police to have them look at the car?
address of the website owners.
I began to wonder if the ‘unmarked patrol’ was the Washington State Police. then it dawned
in me that even though the FCC is in charge of the internet, maybe the State of Washington
has laws that prohibit online gambling advertising by state residents. I better check.
I hate the idea of perhaps spending hours searching the Washington state website for
information about, online gambling advertising. Well, maybe someone else has already done it,
maybe I should type ‘advertise online gambling Washington’ into Yahoo search and wait
find something.
Boat! the first list is titled: Washington State Gambling Commission –
Internet/Online Gambling Matters. My luck is running now, nervously scanning the document that
find just what I’m looking for.
Can I advertise gaming activities online?
State laws do not prevent advertising for online gambling activities, as long as the subject
of the announcement are authorized gaming activities. However, other agencies, such as the
Federal Communications Commission, may have statutes and regulations that apply. any of the
Tribal or self-banked casinos or bingo operators can advertise on the Internet; however, not
one can advertise or solicit the citizens of the state of Washington to gamble online.
Well, the news isn’t bad, but it’s still basically in the gray area, relief. i began to wonder
if other online gambling webmasters located in Washington state had feelings of anxiety
Or experiences similar to mine. Asking me to submit this article with the related urls
for them to read carefully.
I mentioned earlier that the current gray area legal situation is a blessing.
and a nightmare for gambling portal webmasters. People from the USA ask in forums about the
legality of online gambling advertising, all the time.
Good. This uncertainty keeps many potential gambling webmasters away from the gambling affiliate.
marketing. Resulting in less competition for the rest of us, and very importantly, it keeps
Gambling merchant operators reduce the compensation aspect of their programs, because
fewer affiliates marketing your program.
Perdition. The other side is that the US Government could decide to advertise Online
Explicitly illegal gambling at some point in the future. Therefore, a gambling portal is necessary
webmasters to shut down their websites and lose all the many hours of work they invested in
creating, maintaining their websites, not to mention the loss of income.
Just for the record, I’ll include my website URL:[http://www.Online-Casino-Gambling-Betting.net]
Below are the URLs used for the search mentioned above.
http://search.yahoo.com/search?ei=UTF-8&
en=sfp&p=advertising+online+games+Washington
http://www.wsgc.wa.gov/FAQ/InternetGamblingFAQ.htm
