In exploring whether an offshore Internet gambling business taking bets from Americans violated federal law, attention was focused on the Wire Act, 18 U.S.C. Confronted with this blatant challenge to American policies, the Department of Justice and Congress explored the applicability of current law and the desirability of new regulation for online gambling.

Anyone with access to a web browser could find the site and place wagers by credit card. A site operator needed only to establish the business in a friendly offshore jurisdiction such as the Bahamas and begin taking bets. In the 1990s, when the World Wide Web was growing rapidly in popularity, online gambling appeared to represent an end-run around government control and prohibition. Internet-based gambling takes this strategy and extends it to a new level of penetration, for it threatens to bring gambling directly into homes and businesses in localities where a physical gambling establishment could not conduct the same activity. Gambling activity has also exploded in recent years in Native American territory. Gambling establishments often exist near state borders and on ships that cruise outside territorial waters. Presumably, the age 21 restriction is due to the sale of alcohol in that location.Ī standard strategy for avoiding laws that prohibit, constrain, or aggressively tax gambling is to locate the activity just outside the jurisdiction that enforces them, in a more 'gambling friendly' legal environment. For example, in New Jersey, an 18-year-old can buy a lottery ticket or bet on a horse race, but cannot enter a casino until age 21. The states also have differing legal gambling ages, with some states requiring the same minimum age for all types of gambling, while for others, it depends on the activity.

Each state has enacted different laws pertaining to these topics. For example, it has passed laws prohibiting the unauthorized transportation of lottery tickets between states, outlawing sports betting with certain exceptions, and regulating the extent to which gambling may exist on Native American land.Įach state determines what kind of gambling it allows within its borders, where the gambling can be located, and who may gamble.

Gambling, though widespread in the United States, is subject to legislation at both the state and federal level that bans it from certain areas, limits the means and types of gambling, and otherwise regulates the activity.Ĭongress has used its power under the Commerce Clause to regulate interstate gambling, international gambling, and relations between the United States and Native American territories.

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