Originally Posted by
TEXAS MICKEY
Where the crux comes in all of this, is the ""WIRE ACT"" Anything you do, using your computer or telephone for gambling purposes is illegal, except in those 10-12 states that allow horse wagering by phone or computer. That's why you can't call and set-up an account in Vegas for sports wagering, the feds don't and will not allow it. All this tax shit is taken care of when you cash your ticket. There is a set amount for taxing, slots in Nevada is like 1200 dollars, horse racing is like anything that pays 300/1 or more, and I think, if you hit one of those parlay cards out in Vegas on a 15-20 teamer, you gotta pay the tax. You can waive the tax and take all the winnings, but you can bet your sweetass, you will be signing a 1099 form, before you the leave the window with your winnings. A good tax lawyer will get you straight on what you can and can't do. There so many blow dikks on here about how they do and don't pay taxes on winnings, wouldn't trust any of ya and that includes myself..............
I am not trying to be rude but you are 100% incorrect. The WIRE ACT does not make "anything you do using your computer or telephone illegal except in those 10-12 states that allow horse wagers".
Here is what the wire act REALLY means:
In 1961, Congress enacted the Wire Act as a part of series of antiracketeering laws. The Wire Act complements other federal bookmaking statutes, such as the Travel Act (interstate travel in aid of racketeering enterprises, including gambling), the Interstate Transportation of Wagering Paraphernalia Act, and the Illegal Gambling Business Act (requires a predicate state law violation).
The Wire Act was intended to assist the states, territories and possessions of the United States, as well as the District of Columbia, in enforcing their respective laws on gambling and bookmaking and to suppress organized gambling activities.[58] Subsection (a) of the Wire Act, a criminal provision, provides:
Whoever being engaged in the business of betting or wagering knowingly uses a wire communication facility for the transmission in interstate or foreign commerce of bets or wagers or information assisting in the placing of bets or wagers on any sporting event or contest, or for the transmission of a wire communication which entitles the recipient to receive money or credit as a result of bets or wagers, or for information assisting in the placing of bets or wagers, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.[59]
In order to prove a prima facie case, the government must establish that:- The person was "engaged in the business of betting or wagering"
- (compared with a casual bettor);
- The person transmitted in interstate or foreign commerce:
- bets or wagers,
- information assisting in the placement of bets or wagers, or
- a communication that entitled the recipient to receive money or credit as a result of a bet or wager;
- The person used a " wire communication facility;" and
- The person knowingly used a wire communication facility to engage in one of the three prohibited forms of transmissions.
In analyzing the first element, the legislative history[60] of the Wire Act seems to support the position that casual bettors would fall outside of the prosecutorial reach of the statute. During the House of Representatives debate on the bill, Congressman Emanuel Celler, Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee stated "[t]his bill only gets after the bookmaker, the gambler who makes it his business to take bets or to lay off bets. . . It does not go after the causal gambler who bets $2 on a race. That type of transaction is not within the purvue of the statute."[61] In Baborian, the federal district court concluded that Congress did not intend to include social bettors within the umbrella of the statute, even those bettors that bet large sums of money and show a certain degree of sophistication.[62]
The law CLEARLY states its purpose is to go after the bookmaker. Federal district court ruled that this does not include bettors, either small, or large and sophisticated.
So once again guys, I am not trying to smack anyone in the face but before you render a judgement it is a good idea if you do research. The wire act DOES NOT criminalize gamblers. It is in place to go after bookmakers!
So once again there is no law on the Federal level which makes it illegal for me or you to be a gambler. State law varies but again is limited to a half dozen or so states.