FBI Watches Superbowl Bets

The event is also the biggest betting day of the year, with about $5 billion being bet at sports gambling sites on the outcome of the game, the spread, the games MVP and other aspects, big and small. This year, instead of being entirely festive, the sites face a new element that is hampering with their success and service, namely the FBI.

Federal prosecutors and FBI agents from the organized crime unit have been in the face of sports betting as they were building up to this day.

The FBI has mounted a large-scale crackdown on online gambling. This is not a new trend, as the crackdowns and arrests, business limitations and legal actions have been part of the industry for at least since the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act was passed. Yet, the aggressive enforcement operations, have stepped up recently. Will arrests of executives of sites and payment method providers, subpoenas to investment bank officials and a general atmosphere of fear and uncertainty affect the gambling volume for Superbowl XLI?

Nevertheless, Americans are still believed to gamble a total of billions of dollars today at sites. Us authorities are resilient, showing no signs of folding, even though legal experts are skeptical regarding the grounds of these acts. Yet, large companies have folded their operations and ceased serving American gamblers. This leaves the field for the smaller operations, and as long as Americans continue their habits of sports betting, then someone will be making a profit.