06/06/07

If youve ever thought about visiting a cyber casino, heres something you should know: its illegal to gamble online in the United States.

You can go to Vegas. You can go to Atlantic City. You can go to a racetrack. You can go to those places and gamble legally. But dont do it online. Its against the law, says Leslie Bryant, head of our Cyber Crime Fraud unit at FBI Headquarters.

That means:

No placing cyber bets on sporting events or in virtual card games;

No transferring money electronically for gambling; and

No wagers in offshore Internet casinos even if you live in the U.S.

Whats allowed? Some free online games, fantasy leagues, and Indian gaming sites that arent strictly defined as Internet gambling.

Its also illegal for businesses to run gambling websites and to solicit online bets. Even companies handling transactions for cyberspace bettors can face federal charges.

Cracking down. Our strategy for tackling illegal online gamblingas a key enforcement agencyis to start with the companies providing the services in the first place. Were going after the people making the moneythe owners of these virtual casinos, gaming rooms, and off-track betting parlors, Bryant says.

We currently have about a dozen of these cases in motion. One of the biggest came last July when a federal grand jury in St. Louis returned a 22-count indictment against 11 individuals and four companies for their involvement in illegal online gaming and related activities. On May 24, one of the companiesBetonSports pled guilty to racketeering charges in the case.

Weve also had success against companies supporting the money flows behind virtual gambling. In January, for example, two Canadians were charged with operating an Internet payment services company that transferred billions of dollars in illegal gambling proceeds between U.S. citizens and the owners of online gambling sites outside the country.

In 2003, another Internet financial services company paid $10 million in a civil agreement to settle allegations that it aided illegal offshore and online gambling agreements. The U.S. government has also settled several cases with online businesses that have accepted money to market virtual gambling operations.

Think a little online gambling cant cost you? Dont bet on it. Even if you dont get caught gambling, you could well lose the money you have in an online gaming account if the company faces charges, since the U.S. government seizes assets in these cases whenever possible.

FYI, here are the primary federal laws that govern online gambling:

For more information on our cyber investigations and operations, see our Cyber Investigations website.

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FBI Online Gambling Is Illegal