U.S. NETeller arrests deal blow to Net gambling

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070118/wr_nm/neteller_impact_dc_3

U.S. prosecutors have delivered a severe blow to online gambling companies that are flouting a U.S. ban on Internet gambling by arresting two founders of payment processor NETeller.

NETeller's two founders, Canadians Stephen Lawrence, 46, and John Lefebvre, 55, have been charged with handling billions of dollars in illegal gambling proceeds. Both face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

Online gaming companies have been doing business for many years in the United States, where the law was discouraging but ambiguous until a full ban in November.

Another thing we can thank the last session of Congress. It's little stuff like this that should be convincing that the threat to American freedoms come from Republicans and not from Arabs.

Democrats voted in favor of the House Bill by a count 115-76.

Preventing illegal internet gambling doesn't seem so awful.

Services like NETTeller and the like make it really easy for kids to gamble online.

The percentage of people on online poker web sites who are high school students or younger is alarmingly high.

I don't see the passage of this bill as a particularly worrisome threat to American freedom.

If you want to gamble, you can go to a casino, where, hopefully, they will check your ID before allowing you to enter.

You think it is not a threat to freedom, but I disagree. Some of cannot go to a Casino.
The fact the the government wants to be my father pisses me off. wrapping it in "Think Of The Children" sounds like typical right-wing bull.
I am an adult. You are telling me that I am not free to be entertained how I like.

there's that whole drunk driving issue

high rollers can go to a casino and be comped a hotel room, but those who are not high rollers -- the kind of people playing 2 cent/4 cent limit poker on stars -- those folks are just fucked and who cares because why should a little guy ever have a moment's unworried uncomplicated pleasure in life?

:cry:

why can't a person have a couple glasses of wine and play a low limit game in the privacy of her own home, i just don't understand

I'm also disappointed that many Dems voted in favor. I take this as a threat to personal freedoms. Republicans had to bring this up last year because of the odious deals between Abramoff and the Indian tribes.

I'm sure other methods will come around in place of NetTeller. When PayPal left the market years ago, companies like Citadel and Net Teller took their place.

they didn't have any option but to vote for the ports security bill, frist attached the "illegal" gaming rider to the bill at literally the 11th hour in the middle of the night

NO one voted for this bill, bill frist did this knowing there was no option because of the dire need to pass the port security bill

he was going to attach this again and again and again until it got thru

again, NO dem voted for this bill except in as much as they voted for secure ports

we need to be VERY clear on this issue

cat killer frist did this, no one else

The Democrats who voted for the House version were voting on that bill alone.

It was attached to the port security bill for the Senate vote.

i imagine they were just wanking and thought it would be dropped, everyone thought it would be dropped, it always was before...

political posturing, i guess it kills

Sports betting in the U.S. is only legal in Nevada, and I'm 1,700 miles away.

Since there is a demand, I'm sure the market will eventually come around to meet the supply.

It's true Democrats went along with the bill, but I wonder if the impetus would have existed if they had control of the House.

neteller checks your ID just fine, as do the online casinos

You don't think there is a problem with children under 18 and online gambling?

no there is not a serious problem w. children under 18 gambling, children under 18 are trying to get out of the house, be serious

the teens i've encountered gambling online are 18 or 19, and they are usually winners, the earlier you start learning poker, the more you can train your brain, any skill involving math favors the young and flexible brain

these kids were making more money than their dads, more money than they'll ever make again, if that's a problem, give me some

In a 2005 Media Awareness Network (MNet) survey of students' Internet habits, 23 per cent of male students in Grades 10 and 11 report having visited a gambling site in the past school year. Most gambling sites only require a major credit card, which many university and even high school students possess.

That is according to this site: http://www.bewebaware.ca/english/gambling.aspx

I really didn't mean to make this big a deal out of the issue. To be honest, I don't really care about this bill one way or the other. I just think calling it a threat to American freedom is overstating things a little bit. If you are an adult and you want to bet on a game or play poker, you are free to do so. It may not be as easy to do as you would like it to be, but in my view, this bill doesn't really prevent any currently legal activity from taking place. If one wants to make sports betting legal in states other than Nevada then one should petition their state legislators to change the law.

That said, I can see how this bill essentially was promoted by Republicans to protect their non-online casino donors.

I'm not sure how the casino industry feels about online gambling. Does it cut into their business or does it encourage more people to visit non-online casinos?

I do think that children getting addicted to gambling is a serious problem that I don't have a solution for.

there is no doubt that the entire purpose of neteller was to allow you to funnel money into online gambling sites so yeah the dudes were money launderers but i still don't see why they should go to prison

some of us were making a good part-time living doing this and some of us are not employable in "real" jobs by reason of age, disability, etc.

i know a man who had not held a job in 15 years who was able to work as a prop for two online casinos, now he's jobless again, they gave him a chance when nobody else would and now he's fucked

i'm really upset about this, it's taking away what is a harmless entertainment for most and a good source of $$$ for probably 20 percent of us, just stealing it, for no reason except to make a political point that

freedom is not allowed in america to any but the rich and something like online poker, that gives a person a chance to use their brain and potentially make money, can't be allowed apparently

yes i'm v, upset about it

i'm surprised so few here are angry about it

i see people all the time wanting to legalize the drugs that are destroying our communities but they don't give a shit about the gambling that provided some tiny chance for a nerd to break out of their class and make real money, we are not supposed to be able to improve ourselves ever using our brain, it's just considered "unfair" in america to be smart