In 1996 we were treated to an explosion of internet casinosthat swept thru the entire world. The US saw a large increase in both online casinos and players. This huge increase of online players worried the land-based casino owners so they lobbied to have it stopped or at least slowed down. They understood if this pace continued they would see even more of a loss of profits. So they lobbied Congress hard and in 2006 The United States passed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (or UIGEA).
The UIGEA act prohibited the banks and payment processors from processing any sort of transactions in connection with internet gambling. This created a problem for players in depositing and withdrawing funds from their internet accounts. While the companies continued to operate they had to use payment processors that could get around such restrictions. Despite all these laws related to online gambling, some online casinos continued to take gamblers in the US. On the other hand, a lot of the bigger online brands left the USA market, the alternatives for players became incredibly limited. Many said it was tough to find a good online casino. Alot of ratings sites began to turn up that directed players to the sites they so desperately looked for. Some of those sites were better than others, but they served the need which was created. Soon after the market started to stabilize and players were playing online again, Black Friday hit the internet gaming world.
Many casinos had found a way around the deposit and withdrawal problems and the online gambling world was growing yet again. Many started to feel invincible to this new law. The federal government was not really enforcing it and it appeared like they had no intentions starting. That was certainly a false feeling of security for both the players and internet casinos. April 15, 2011, will go down in history as the day the online gambling community was punished and punished hard. It was the start of a new era. The US Department of Justice charged the owners of the three largest poker sites Poker Stars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker with bank fraud, illegal gambling offenses, and laundering billions of dollars in illegal gambling proceeds. The DOJ seized their domain names as well as their funds. Suddenly many US gamblers were not just left with nowhere to play and no way to recuperate their funds.
Black Friday forced even more gambling brands to depart the USA Market. Everyone was yet again scrambling to find new places to play, worried if they would ever get their funds back, and wondering if anybody was going to stay in the US market. A major blow was struck to online gambling and many wondered if it would survive. Again the review sites played a significant role in finding places for players to play. Now the market was very limited and it was a struggle to find online sites. Once again the market slowly started to stabilize and things settled down a bit. The market was damaged but survived.
The other major event was Gray Monday. Grey Monday saw more website names and gambling operations seized. There was clearly two main disparities with these seizures. This time both big and small sites were seized. Various sectors in the industry were seized including internet poker, casinos, sports books and also bingo. Basically no one was safe now. Now the size of the company did not matter anymore. Nor did the industry you're in. This round of seizures was felt by everyone throughout the gambling industry.
The full effects of this seizure have not been felt yet but there's now even less US Casino Sites available. Will the industry survive? It remains to be seen but it's been hit hard.
The UIGEA act prohibited the banks and payment processors from processing any sort of transactions in connection with internet gambling. This created a problem for players in depositing and withdrawing funds from their internet accounts. While the companies continued to operate they had to use payment processors that could get around such restrictions. Despite all these laws related to online gambling, some online casinos continued to take gamblers in the US. On the other hand, a lot of the bigger online brands left the USA market, the alternatives for players became incredibly limited. Many said it was tough to find a good online casino. Alot of ratings sites began to turn up that directed players to the sites they so desperately looked for. Some of those sites were better than others, but they served the need which was created. Soon after the market started to stabilize and players were playing online again, Black Friday hit the internet gaming world.
Many casinos had found a way around the deposit and withdrawal problems and the online gambling world was growing yet again. Many started to feel invincible to this new law. The federal government was not really enforcing it and it appeared like they had no intentions starting. That was certainly a false feeling of security for both the players and internet casinos. April 15, 2011, will go down in history as the day the online gambling community was punished and punished hard. It was the start of a new era. The US Department of Justice charged the owners of the three largest poker sites Poker Stars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker with bank fraud, illegal gambling offenses, and laundering billions of dollars in illegal gambling proceeds. The DOJ seized their domain names as well as their funds. Suddenly many US gamblers were not just left with nowhere to play and no way to recuperate their funds.
Black Friday forced even more gambling brands to depart the USA Market. Everyone was yet again scrambling to find new places to play, worried if they would ever get their funds back, and wondering if anybody was going to stay in the US market. A major blow was struck to online gambling and many wondered if it would survive. Again the review sites played a significant role in finding places for players to play. Now the market was very limited and it was a struggle to find online sites. Once again the market slowly started to stabilize and things settled down a bit. The market was damaged but survived.
The other major event was Gray Monday. Grey Monday saw more website names and gambling operations seized. There was clearly two main disparities with these seizures. This time both big and small sites were seized. Various sectors in the industry were seized including internet poker, casinos, sports books and also bingo. Basically no one was safe now. Now the size of the company did not matter anymore. Nor did the industry you're in. This round of seizures was felt by everyone throughout the gambling industry.
The full effects of this seizure have not been felt yet but there's now even less US Casino Sites available. Will the industry survive? It remains to be seen but it's been hit hard.
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