If you are an online gambling aficionado who resides in the United States, you may have noticed many gambling web sites have been restricted to you. What is the reason for this when you previously had limitless options in casino web sites that accepted U.S. casino players? The answer to that lies in a bill that was passed by President George W. Bush on October of 2006. The purpose of that bill was to supposedly to tighten up security in the various seaports around the country. Tacked on to that bill however–some say as a means of preventing Democrats from blocking the law–was a provision that made it illegal for banks to transfer funds people that may engage in gambling activities in jurisdictions where such activities are illegal. No matter what the true purpose of this law is, it has resulted in large numbers of online gambling establishments closing their doors to U.S. players.
What is interesting to note about this anti-gambling law is that it targets money that may be used in gambling and not the U.S. players who would be engaging in such activities. Going after all these players–which number in the millions–is after all virtually impossible, and going after the funds used that may be used in gambling web sites is a far more realistic option.
One of the chains of casinos that have recently felt the tightening grip of U.S. legislation is the Microgaming group of casinos. Previously open to accepting players from all over the world, the casino has since blocked the application of new members from the United States. It appears that the Microgaming group is now bowing out of the U.S. market, and they are no longer accepting membership signups from U.S. casino players. This is a fairly significant development as Microgaming is known for hosting some of the best and most popular casino web sites around including All Slots, All Jackpots, First Web Casino and many others.
The good news is that if you already have an account with any of the Microgaming casinos, you can go on playing as usual. Of course the legality of that is in question, so you may opt to go with any one of the many other web sites that are open to U.S. casino players. As excellent as the service that the Microgaming casinos are able to provide, there are many casino web sites that can provide just as satisfactory a gaming experience, and it would be the better and more legally sound option to go with them.
The question that remains however is that if it is indeed legal for U.S. casino players to gamble on the Internet. The answer to that question is not quite so simple. For one thing, US legislation stops short of calling online gambling illegal per se, and instead only bans certain financial transactions from being used. You can still use payment methods that are not subject to such restrictions such as credit cards or electronic payment methods that are not based in the United States. In any case, it would be best to check the local laws of your state to makes sure that you are gambling within the boundaries of the law.
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