Sports gambling laws differ from place to place. In the US, sports gambling is regarded as illegal in most states save a few like Nevada, Montana etc. The legitimacy and general acceptance of sports gambling is extremely regulated in several European countries though not criminalized, but Europeans need to know how to bet tax-free – great info at GertGambell.net. “Sports gambling” is considered by legalized sports gambling proponents as a sports hobby for sports enthusiasts to increase their interest in a sporting event thus becoming a big benefit to leagues, teams and players etc.

There are plenty of sites that happen to be respectable that will not allow US citizens to bet through them although with the advent of the internet and offshore gambling sites it truly is getting tough to govern the sports gambling actions of Americans. For many years the United States argued against the online gambling legalities by citing the Interstate Wire Act of 1961 passed to stop sports gambling activities between the states by using wire containing devices and the telephone. Considering that the internet was not yet invented during those times, legal experts today question whether regulations actually pertained to the internet services or not.

The Justice Department of the US however claimed that the Wire Act did relate to all types of online or internet gambling. In 2006, The congress wrote the SAFE Port Act and passed it to raise the United States port security. Attached with this was the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act that prohibited US residents from utilization of electronic fund transfer or checks, credit cards etc to finance any internet betting activity.

The thing that was important was the reality that the act dealt just with the funding of internet gambling accounts and not the specific placing of the bet. Therefore an Internet gambling law attorney Lawrence Walters stated that this bill that was passed didn’t have effect on the gambling activity of the individual but focused only on the restriction of specific transactions that were financial and relating to the banks and internet gambling sites. Thus the bill failed to make internet gambling illegal nevertheless it made funding ones bet or wager on the internet sites illegal criminalizing the financial transaction instead of the specific act of betting by the individual.

Rep Barney Frank then introduced in 2007, the Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act in order to legalize internet sports gambling and at the same time frame Rep.es McDermott introduced the Internet Gambling Regulation and Tax Enforcement Act to regulate betting sites online and collect tax on all bets made.

The nation of Antigua and Barbuda in 2003 registered a complaint against the US with the World Trade Organization the US (based on their sports gambling laws and ban on betting on the net) violated their WTO rights. The WTO ruled for their favor and though the United States appealed the original ruling was upheld on plenty of occasions. The WTO awarded Antigua and Barbuda trade sanctions worth $21 million as well as the right to penalize the US copyright and trademark laws.