Home	Tutorial	Online Casino Reviews	Best Online Casinos	Casino Software	Casino News

Online Casino Gambling --- Casino News

Questionable Massachusetts Bill

With the highly debatable nature of online casino gambling in the United States, it is surprising that Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick would take such a strong stance against internet gambling this soon in the nation-wide debate. Patrick has proposed legislation to benefit and expand land-casinos in Massachusetts – yet that same bill seeks to criminalize online casinos gambling for the individual internet gambler. Washington State is the only other state to impose such hefty penalties on internet gamblers in particular.

The U.S. is highly polarized on the legality of online casino gambling – but even though the UIGEA (Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act) bans financial transactions at the internet gambling sites, the U.S. does not criminalize the activity for Americans. Patrick’s proposed legislation would, like Washington State legislation, make online casinos gambling a C class felony. What this means for the Massachusetts gambler: $25,000 in fines and up to two years of jail time.

That seems a bit excessive considering the state is expanding land-based gambling. Some have even gone so as to allege that Patrick is seeking to create a land-based gambling monopoly where the land-based casinos do not have any competition from the online casinos. This criticism is coming from within Massachusetts as well as from outside politicos. Barney Frank is one of the most outspoken pro-online casinos politicians in the U.S. and has a bill before Congress that proposes licensing and regulating the internet gambling industry rather than the current ban. And in that same attitude he questions Patrick’s bill, : "Why is gambling in a [land] casino OK and gambling on the Internet is not? He's making a big mistake. He's giving opponents an argument against him."