Going Underground in the US?

There is no way around the fact that the US legislation presents online casinos with a choice they must deal with: either continue to take American bets and possibly face charges of money laundering or aiding criminal activities, or suspend and even close US operations in order to try and recover in other online gambling markets.

The public companies are most affected by the US legislation, and the fact that is blatantly disregarded by the US government is that the high profile companies may suffer heavy losses, and even take their business elsewhere, but there is absolutely no way to stop American gamblers from gambling on the web. They will most likely find a way to wager on their favorite sports team and on a winning hand of poker.

By choosing to go down the road of shunning the sites away instead of regulating the industry, legislators are risking pushing the industry to the underground, where those who decide to pay or deny payments from players will be faceless private companies whose ownership will be impenetrable. eCOGRA, an independent standards authority, also addresses the issue of under funded, unregulated and unprincipled gambling sites filling the space left by the bigger, high profile companies. The danger is imminent, a fact that should, but most likely won't, convince Bush to reconsider signing the bill into law.