Illinois Bringing in Online Gambling?

February 24, 2009

So the government passes a law called the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, or UIGEA, and attempts to shut down all online gambling. However, that only works if the bill actually makes online gambling illegal � which it didn�t. It made the processing of payments for online gambling illegal, which some might argue is the same thing � but it�s not. So armed with this information, many states have lately started looking at how they might get around the online gambling law and start their own version of it within their state.

Illinois is simply the latest one to try adding online gambling to their state. Senate President John Cullerton is considering a way of making online gambling legal in their state. He wants to see their state lottery start offering tickets via the internet. This would make them the very first state to sell online tickets individually, making online gambling legal within their state.

He says that with this method he would be able to bring in a lot more money for the state and in doing so they could help with the shortfall in their budget. His estimation puts it at $300 million a year in lottery sales for the state. Some argue that in doing so he is breaking the UIGEA and the state should not be allowed to bring it in.

However, according to legal experts, the federal law cannot interfere with instate purchases. The only way that it would be illegal online gambling is if they allowed other states to participate in their lottery online, but if they block them then it is perfectly legal.

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