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The Poor US Gamblers

The United States government is not gaining any fans in the online casino gambling industry this month as the US attorneys have now set their sites on individual US gamblers instead of just attacking the gambling sites and the payment processing companies. The UIGEA is a highly controversial piece of legislation that has severely limited the freedoms of US gamblers – but only so far as by stopping offshore online casinos and gambling companies from doing business in the US. The UIGEA does not include provisions for prosecuting US internet gamblers themselves for playing at the internet gambling sites. Lawyers and representatives from the internet gambling industry have long held that internet gambling itself was not illegal at a federal level for US citizens.

It appears that the US Department of Justice and the US courts have a different interpretation about the UIGEA and the extent to which US players can gamble at online casinos without repercussions. The US attorneys have decided to make an example out of Nicholas Zicarelli, an innocent American who happened to have gambled at the internet gambling sites since the UIGEA come into effect. Zicarelli was brought into court and asked to testify against some of the online casinos he uses – and rather than implicate himself in illegal behavior, Zicarelli used his 5th Amendment right and is now facing more than a year in jail for contempt of court.

This new tactic is highly controversial because it takes the UIGEA and the US’ ban on online casinos far further than it has ever been before. Prosecuting and punishing the offshore gaming sites and payment processing companies is one thing, but attacking US gamblers has generated strong and immediate outrage from the US internet gambling supporters.