Online Gambling Fight

August 17, 2007

The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) made the processing of payments for online gambling illegal in the United States. However, the state of Washington has taken it a step further by making online gambling a Class C felony. This means that if you participate in online gambling, you will be looking at up to five years in prison and up to $10,000 in fines.

However, many in Washington are angry about the law and the penalties, and one man has decided to do something about it. Lee Rousso is taking the state to court to challenge the online gambling law after living with it for a year. He says that not only is the law “unfairly making [online gamblers] look like criminals,” but it is unconstitutional.

Nick Jenkins is the owner of Betcha.com, a two week old startup online gambling company, and the state told him to close it down or he would be looking at up to 50 years in prison. He was told that although they weren’t charging him with anything just yet, they were warning him of the possible outcome of participating in this kind of gambling activity.

Jenkins says that he is not promoting online gambling, as Betcha.com is about people betting each other on anything they want. They could place bets on anything they wanted, and were responsible to each other to honor the bet if lost. If they welch on the bet, they would get negative feedback, but they aren’t hurting anyone but themselves.



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