Anyone here who hopes sports betting never becomes legalized in the U.S?

[Iceman]

Starting to wonder myself how good of a thing this would be as I keep reading how the government would surely tax this enough to make it unbeatable, much like horse racing. Anyone want the U.S government to stay out of all this?

Brings me back to an article I once read when some guy from Pinnacle said if you took all the biggest long time winners at their book and added 10 cents juice towards all their losses none of those winners be ahead or something to that effect, can't remember the exact details but I think you get the point behind it.

So basically if -115 or so was the standard juice due to certain reasons, then this becomes unbeatable. Heck I am starting to become convinced that even -110 is unbeatable these days.

More I think about it, the more I hope that some type of Neteller only comes back and everything else stays the same the way it is now.

[jim]

less heat is all that is needed, like the early days of the internet.


just repeal uigea and maybe paspa and things would be cool.

[THE PROFIT]

i dont give a shit really. Legalizing marijuana is what would pull the country out of debt

[Emily_Haines]

People would still play off shore

[Iona]

I am quite happy the way things are now. I have found creative ways to fund my account and receive winnings. The Goverment will just screw things up similar to every thing else they get involved with (social security, education etc...).

[jjgold]

It would be garbage

No need

Its perfect how it is and very few ever get shut out because too hard to fund

[gafl]

Don't think sports betting will ever be legalized. Don't care. Government will bleed dry every business it gets its hands on. NYC OTB has to turn over so much money to the state and city that it is broke. Besides the high takeout NYC OTB tacks on a surcharge to winning bets. They would do the same with sports. Rather not bother with betting than be subjected to government control.

[jjgold]

More people would actually play offshore if it was legal in usa

It would be so bad bettors would flock offshore

[durito]

i'd love to see a repeal of the uigea and return to the neteller days.

legalization not so much. look at european bookmakers. i got $10 from one of their bigger ones today after one bet in the account. sweet.

[gafl]

Legal gambling would be a recruiting poster for the offshore industry. Still the offshores have to do a better job of policing themselves. Too many fly by night operations would ruin it for the better books.

[minet123]

I have you ever seen what the NYRA takes out of the pool
Sponsey is correct here, no matter what, we all we continue to play offshore

[gafl]

NYRA is far from the worst. But the takeout in horse racing has to be reduced substantially if the industry is to survive.

[Waz]

You can put me on the list of those who don't think it would be good if it were legal in the US. Not only would they heavily tax it, but the lines would become tremendously harder to beat even if it stayed at -110 due to gains in market efficiencies. It would be only a matter of time that it would become much like the stock market, where even the best hedge funds lose money some years and are ecstatic when they return over 20% for the entire year.

[neila]

Yeah, I agree. The government would like at it like a cash cow and ruin it for everybody.

[sharpcat]

Nothing wrong with the way it is right now.

Uneducated gamblers are the only ones who think it is illegal right now when it is perfectly legal as it is.

It would be great if we had more options but it will come at the cost of the government sticking their hands in the pot and ultimately making it an unbeatable game, which some only bet on sports to profit and could care less about betting if there is no chance of winning.

[HauntingTheHoly]

Uneducated gamblers are the only ones who think it is illegal right now when it is perfectly legal as it is.

I always figured this was a complicated question - that of legality - and one that didn't have an answer. Would you care to elaborate on this? Why do uneducated gamblers think it's illegal? Why are they wrong?

[SBR_John]

The offshore market will always have a competitive advantage of no gaming tax, license fees, audits, ect., and the burden of government reporting. The regulated casinos of the future will be quite contempt to book no bonus sports bets at $500 a pop with full juice to the squares only market. They can't really afford to bonus players.

[Dark Horse]

I like it the way it is. Anarchy. Self-regulating.

[sharpcat]

I always figured this was a complicated question - that of legality - and one that didn't have an answer. Would you care to elaborate on this? Why do uneducated gamblers think it's illegal? Why are they wrong?

Uneducated gamblers believe whatever they are told and if the government passes a bill banning internet gambling than they will just assume it is illegal.

It is a well known fact that to this day nobody has been convicted of violating the UIGEA, the federal wire act of 1961, or the federal sports betting ban of 1992.

The UIGEA refers specifically to the banks sending money to the overseas books and in no way is it intended to penalize the player.

The federal wire act of 1961 is outdated and refers to bets being placed over a wire which would be very hard to enforce in the wireless age we live in, and again is aimed at bookmaking operations not the player.

The federal sports betting ban of 1992 is aimed at preventing bookmaking operations in the US it is not in any way capable of being used to prosecute the player.

Many states have their own laws against underground gambling but once again these laws are intended for purposes of eliminating illegal bookmaking and not for penalizing players.

10 odd years ago there was a big stink about people illegally downloading copyrighted music from Napster, Was anybody ever prosecuted for that?

Till recently it was supposedly illegal for someone to hack their smartphone (iphone, etc.). Was anybody ever prosecuted for that?

Point is why does anybody feel the need to allow the US government to take over internet gambling when they will likely cause an increase of juice and probably tax the hell out of it like they do with cigarettes and alcohol when it is perfectly legal as is?

[Joe Dogs]

Keep it as is....Once uncle Sam gets his hands in it,say good bye

[jjgold]

The offshore market will always have a competitive advantage of no gaming tax, license fees, audits, ect., and the burden of government reporting. The regulated casinos of the future will be quite contempt to book no bonus sports bets at $500 a pop with full juice to the squares only market. They can't really afford to bonus players.

Post of month

Vegas sports betting is whore shit

[thezbar]

I would just as soon see it legal. Its like jumping through flaming hoops to get a bet down as it is.

[jjgold]

I doubt we ever see it legal

Maybe NJ

[HauntingTheHoly]

Uneducated gamblers believe whatever they are told and if the government passes a bill banning internet gambling than they will just assume it is illegal.

It is a well known fact that to this day nobody has been convicted of violating the UIGEA, the federal wire act of 1961, or the federal sports betting ban of 1992.

The UIGEA refers specifically to the banks sending money to the overseas books and in no way is it intended to penalize the player.

The federal wire act of 1961 is outdated and refers to bets being placed over a wire which would be very hard to enforce in the wireless age we live in, and again is aimed at bookmaking operations not the player.

The federal sports betting ban of 1992 is aimed at preventing bookmaking operations in the US it is not in any way capable of being used to prosecute the player.

Many states have their own laws against underground gambling but once again these laws are intended for purposes of eliminating illegal bookmaking and not for penalizing players.

10 odd years ago there was a big stink about people illegally downloading copyrighted music from Napster, Was anybody ever prosecuted for that?

Till recently it was supposedly illegal for someone to hack their smartphone (iphone, etc.). Was anybody ever prosecuted for that?

Point is why does anybody feel the need to allow the US government to take over internet gambling when they will likely cause an increase of juice and probably tax the hell out of it like they do with cigarettes and alcohol when it is perfectly legal as is?

I see. Yeah, maybe some squares who see themselves as free market champions or some goddamned thing will claim it "should be legal" without considering such things as you mention.

When you say "nobody" has been convicted of the three laws you mention, I'm assuming that doesn't include books, eh? I can look into that myself I suppose, just out of curiosity.

I believe there have been some college students a few years back who were prosecuted for distributing a shit-ton of illegal music over the 'net. All I can remember from those stories was that my own, and most other people's downloading/uploading was of vastly different quantity.

[sharpcat]

Sports wagering although slightly complicated is working fine just the way it is my biggest concern with the US stepping in is the "sin tax" where for some reason the government is able to tax the hell out of anything they feel is a sin such as cigarettes and alcohol. It is hard enough to come out ahead gambling as is last thing we need is uncle sam in the mix taxing us extra for a "sin" and than taxing us every time we hit a big jackpot.

Only benefit in my opinion would be the ability to easily fund and cash out, but in all my years playing offshore outside of a few slow pays here and there it has never been difficult enough to make a trade and let the greedy US government get involved.

Did you know that the recent online gambling bill that went through the house suggested charging players a 50% tax on their deposit if they chose to deposit with an unlicensed casino? And guess what none of the offshore casinos will be eligible to be licensed if they have operated illegally in the US at any point in time.

[Igetp2s]

If they legalized it, they would slap a huge tax on it and making winning nearly impossible. The black market would still operate just like it does with cigarettes. Politicians never learn that confiscatory tax policy just leads to people doing whatever it takes to avoid it.