COMPARE US ONLINE CASINOS: Best USA Bonus Offers.

We are a UK site , but we do get alot of questions from our American cousins over the pond such as: "Where can I play casino games online is I live in the United States? Which online casinos are still allowing deposits from the US?"

The US governement has been attempting to make it difficult for online casino and poker companies to target US customers principally by making it hard to transfer funds to online casinos (payment processors). What this has meant, is that many of the larger companies (and certainly the ones that are listed on stock exchanges) have pulled out of the market- companies such as 888, Party Gaming and most recently Microgaming.

Two online casino USA operators that have remained in the marketing accepting US players are Realtime Gaming (eg Rushmore Online Casino) and Vegas Technology (eg Golden Casino). If you a US citizen- you´ll find the online Casinos above are open to U.S. players (ie players accessing the Internet from the USA).

Is it legal to Gamble at an Online Casino in the USA?
We are no expert in US law, but as always it´s a grey area. There are federal laws and state laws of course in the USA so you need to check on both counts. In terms of numbers, US Casino players and online gamblers make up more than half of the bets placed at online casinos in the world, so there is alot of people doing it. The law is pretty clear about US banks and ‘financial institutions' making gambling transactions- this is illegal. But the Internet is a global place of course.

The consensus seems to be that sports betting is more closely covered by the law through the Wire Act.

Why did some online casinos stop taking bets from US citizens? What´s going on?
Unlike the UK, which has chosen to regulate online casinos and make it clearly legal to bet and gamble online (they publish a white list of countires and operators), the US government has taken another route. Some would say from a moral standpoint- others would say as a way of protecting lottery and sports betting revenues of the member states (as it has proven difficult to tax offshore online casino sites). Of course, if the US choose to regulate the market, it becomes much easier to tax the operators through issuing licences, but even then there are powerful lobbyists who are keen to protect existing gambling markets.

On Friday October 13, 2006 the former President George Bush signed a bill to tighten security measures for the nation's sea ports. Attached to it at the very last minute - in order to ease it through - was a federal ban on financial institutions transferring funds to businesses or individuals gambling in states and areas where gambling is not allowed. This is the UIGEA or yhe "Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act" and it´s targeted at the banks not the millions of players.

Targeting the banks has been problematic enough, as many of them are unwilling to implement the extremely complex and expensive systems needed to police this (especially in the current economic situation- they have bigger mackerel to fry. Targetting individual Americans would be nigh on impossible and very expensive to police.

Our advice is to read as much information as you can on the subject and come to your own conclusions.We expect the situation to evolve as time goes by, particularly with a new administration in charge. New bills are being debated as we speak that are dealing with this situation, and there are some very powerful lobbying groups at work behind the scenes (such as Harrah´s Casinos- the Las Vegas and Atlantic City juggernauts who seem to be gearing up to go online).

Disclaimer
Online Casino King is a UK casino information source and not a legal authority. Do not treat the information here as formal legal advice. For accurate information on the legality of online casinos where you live, consult the specific laws of the State, jurisdiction country where you live and where you plan to play at an online casino USA site.