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You Want to Have Fun and Not Another Intenet Scam
There are many websites offering online gambling. Many of these sites are scams, and all may be illegal. Before you hand over your money and credit card information, it is critical that you know your options, rights, and whether you can trust the persons operating the website to act honestly.
Unfortunately, you could spend weeks evaluating services trying to avoid being ripped-off. Professional looking websites can be created in an afternoon by a boilerplate money-stealing operation.
Disclaimer: No recommendation or endorsement of any website, product, or service is made. Websites and/or the information on a website can change at any time. You should do your own research and verify for yourself information about a business before making any purchase. Last review: November 23, 2003
Is Online Gambling Legal?
Federal Law
18 USC § 1084
(a) Whoever being engaged in the business of betting or wagering
knowingly uses a wire communication facility for the transmission
in interstate or foreign commerce of bets or wagers or information
assisting in the placing of bets or wagers on any sporting event or
contest, or for the transmission of a wire communication which
entitles the recipient to receive money or credit as a result of
bets or wagers, or for information assisting in the placing of bets
or wagers, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more
than two years, or both.
(b) Nothing in this section shall be construed to prevent the
transmission in interstate or foreign commerce of information for
use in news reporting of sporting events or contests, or for the
transmission of information assisting in the placing of bets or
wagers on a sporting event or contest from a State or foreign
country where betting on that sporting event or contest is legal
into a State or foreign country in which such betting is legal.
(c) Nothing contained in this section shall create immunity from
criminal prosecution under any laws of any State.
(d) When any common carrier, subject to the jurisdiction of the
Federal Communications Commission, is notified in writing by a
Federal, State, or local law enforcement agency, acting within its
jurisdiction, that any facility furnished by it is being used or
will be used for the purpose of transmitting or receiving gambling
information in interstate or foreign commerce in violation of
Federal, State or local law, it shall discontinue or refuse, the
leasing, furnishing, or maintaining of such facility, after
reasonable notice to the subscriber, but no damages, penalty or
forfeiture, civil or criminal, shall be found against any common
carrier for any act done in compliance with any notice received
from a law enforcement agency. Nothing in this section shall be
deemed to prejudice the right of any person affected thereby to
secure an appropriate determination, as otherwise provided by law,
in a Federal court or in a State or local tribunal or agency, that
such facility should not be discontinued or removed, or should be
restored.
(e) As used in this section, the term ''State'' means a State of
the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of
Puerto Rico, or a commonwealth, territory or possession of the
United States.
18 USC § 1952
(a) Whoever travels in interstate or foreign commerce or uses the
mail or any facility in interstate or foreign commerce, with intent
to -
(1) distribute the proceeds of any unlawful activity; or
(2) commit any crime of violence to further any unlawful
activity; or
(3) otherwise promote, manage, establish, carry on, or
facilitate the promotion, management, establishment, or carrying
on, of any unlawful activity,
and thereafter performs or attempts to perform -
(A) an act described in paragraph (1) or (3) shall be fined
under this title, imprisoned not more than 5 years, or both; or
(B) an act described in paragraph (2) shall be fined under this
title, imprisoned for not more than 20 years, or both, and if
death results shall be imprisoned for any term of years or for
life.
(b) As used in this section (i) ''unlawful activity'' means (1)
any business enterprise involving gambling, liquor on which the
Federal excise tax has not been paid, narcotics or controlled
substances (as defined in section 102(6) of the Controlled
Substances Act), or prostitution offenses in violation of the laws
of the State in which they are committed or of the United States,
(2) extortion, bribery, or arson in violation of the laws of the
State in which committed or of the United States, or (3) any act
which is indictable under subchapter II of chapter 53 of title 31,
United States Code, or under section 1956 or 1957 of this title and
(ii) the term ''State'' includes a State of the United States, the
District of Columbia, and any commonwealth, territory, or
possession of the United States.
(c) Investigations of violations under this section involving
liquor shall be conducted under the supervision of the Secretary of
the Treasury.
18 USC §§ 1961-1968 include gambling as an activity for which someone can be charged with racketeering.
28 USC § 3702
It shall be unlawful for -
(1) a governmental entity to sponsor, operate, advertise,
promote, license, or authorize by law or compact, or
(2) a person to sponsor, operate, advertise, or promote,
pursuant to the law or compact of a governmental entity,
a lottery, sweepstakes, or other betting, gambling, or wagering
scheme based, directly or indirectly (through the use of
geographical references or otherwise), on one or more competitive
games in which amateur or professional athletes participate, or are
intended to participate, or on one or more performances of such
athletes in such games.
California Law
California Penal Code § 330
Every person who deals, plays, or carries on, opens, or causes
to be opened, or who conducts, either as owner or employee, whether
for hire or not, any game of faro, monte, roulette, lansquenet, rouge
et noire, rondo, tan, fan-tan, seven-and-a-half, twenty-one,
hokey-pokey, or any banking or percentage game played with cards,
dice, or any device, for money, checks, credit, or other
representative of value, and every person who plays or bets at or
against any of those prohibited games, is guilty of a misdemeanor,
and shall be punishable by a fine not less than one hundred dollars
($100) nor more than one thousand dollars ($1,000), or by
imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding six months, or by both
the fine and imprisonment.
California Penal Code § 337a (in part)
Every person, 1. Who engages in pool selling or
bookmaking, with or without writing, at any time or place; or 2.
Who, whether for gain, hire, reward, or gratuitously, or otherwise,
keeps or occupies, for any period of time whatsoever, any room, shed,
tenement, tent, booth, building, float, vessel, place, stand or
enclosure, of any kind, or any part thereof, with a book or books,
paper or papers, apparatus, device or paraphernalia, for the purpose
of recording or registering any bet or bets, or any purported bet or
bets, or wager or wagers, or any purported wager or wagers, or of
selling pools, or purported pools, upon the result, or purported
result, of any trial, or purported trial, or contest, or purported
contest, of skill, speed or power of endurance of man or beast, or
between men, beasts, or mechanical apparatus, or upon the result, or
purported result, of any lot, chance, casualty, unknown or contingent
event whatsoever; or 3. Who, whether for gain, hire, reward, or
gratuitously, or otherwise, receives, holds, or forwards, or purports
or pretends to receive, hold, or forward, in any manner whatsoever,
any money, thing or consideration of value, or the equivalent or
memorandum thereof, staked, pledged, bet or wagered, or to be staked,
pledged, bet or wagered, or offered for the purpose of being staked,
pledged, bet or wagered, upon the result, or purported result, of
any trial, or purported trial, or contest, or purported contest, of
skill, speed or power of endurance of man or beast, or between men,
beasts, or mechanical apparatus, or upon the result, or purported
result, of any lot, chance, casualty, unknown or contingent event
whatsoever; or 4. Who, whether for gain, hire, reward, or
gratuitously, or otherwise, at any time or place, records, or
registers any bet or bets, wager or wagers, upon the result, or
purported result, of any trial, or purported trial, or contest, or
purported contest, of skill, speed or power of endurance of man or
beast, or between men, beasts, or mechanical apparatus, or upon the
result, or purported result, of any lot, chance, casualty, unknown or
contingent event whatsoever; or 5. Who, being the owner, lessee or
occupant of any room, shed, tenement, tent, booth, building, float,
vessel, place, stand, enclosure or grounds, or any part thereof,
whether for gain, hire, reward, or gratuitously, or otherwise,
permits the same to be used or occupied for any purpose, or in any
manner prohibited by subdivision 1, 2, 3 or 4 of this section; or
6. Who lays, makes, offers or accepts any bet or bets, or wager or
wagers, upon the result, or purported result, of any trial, or
purported trial, or contest, or purported contest, of skill, speed or
power of endurance of man or beast, or between men, beasts, or
mechanical apparatus, is punishable by imprisonment in the county
jail for a period of not more than one year or in the state prison.
California Constitution Article IV § 19
(a) The Legislature has no power to authorize lotteries,
and shall prohibit the sale of lottery tickets in the State.
(b) The Legislature may provide for the regulation of horse races
and horse race meetings and wagering on the results.
(c) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), the Legislature by statute
may authorize cities and counties to provide for bingo games, but
only for charitable purposes.
(d) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), there is authorized the
establishment of a California State Lottery.
(e) The Legislature has no power to authorize, and shall prohibit,
casinos of the type currently operating in Nevada and New Jersey.
(f) Notwithstanding subdivisions (a) and (e), and any other
provision of state law, the Governor is authorized to negotiate and
conclude compacts, subject to ratification by the Legislature, for
the operation of slot machines and for the conduct of lottery games
and banking and percentage card games by federally recognized Indian
tribes on Indian lands in California in accordance with federal law.
Accordingly, slot machines, lottery games, and banking and
percentage card games are hereby permitted to be conducted and
operated on tribal lands subject to those compacts.
(f) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), the Legislature may authorize
private, nonprofit, eligible organizations, as defined by the
Legislature, to conduct raffles as a funding mechanism to provide
support for their own or another private, nonprofit, eligible
organization's beneficial and charitable works, provided that (1) at
least 90 percent of the gross receipts from the raffle go directly to
beneficial or charitable purposes in California, and (2) any person
who receives compensation in connection with the operation of a
raffle is an employee of the private nonprofit organization that is
conducting the raffle. The Legislature, two-thirds of the membership
of each house concurring, may amend the percentage of gross receipts
required by this subdivision to be dedicated to beneficial or
charitable purposes by means of a statute that is signed by the
Governor.
Internet Gambling Site Reviews
Website |
Address Info |
Company Info |
License |
Payout Rate |
Deposit |
Bonus |
Play Money |
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888.com |
no |
no |
Gibraltar |
97.9% |
$50 |
$200 |
yes |
blackjackballroom.com |
no |
no |
Kahnawake |
- |
$20 |
$40 |
yes |
captaincookscasino.com |
no |
no |
Kahnawake |
97.99% |
$0 |
$16 |
yes |
gamingclub.com |
no |
no |
Gibraltar |
- |
- |
$180 |
yes |
goldentigercasino.com |
no |
no |
Kahnawake |
- |
- |
50% |
yes |
jackpotcity.com |
no |
no |
Kahnawake |
- |
$50 |
$50 |
yes |
luckynugget.com |
no |
no |
Gibraltar |
- |
$50 |
$200 |
yes |
riverbelle.com |
no |
no |
Mohawk Kahnawake Gibraltar |
- |
- |
- |
yes |
showdowncasino.com |
no |
no |
Gibraltar |
- |
- |
$50 |
yes |
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