Sports betting laws differ from place to place. In the US, sports gambling is regarded as illegal in most states save some like Nevada, Montana etc. The legality and general acceptance of sports gambling is extremely regulated in numerous European countries though not criminalized, but Europeans need to know the best way to bet tax free - great info at GertGambell.net. "Sports gambling" is regarded by legalized sports gambling proponents as a sports hobby for sports enthusiasts to increase their fascination with a sporting event thus being a great benefit to leagues, teams and players etc.
There are plenty of sites that are respectable that will not allow US citizens to bet through them although with the appearance of the internet and offshore gambling websites it is getting difficult to govern the sports gambling actions of Americans. For many years the US argued against the internet gambling legalities by citing the Interstate Wire Act of 1961 passed to halt sports gambling activities between the states by using wire containing devices along with the telephone. Because the internet had not been yet invented during those times, legal experts today question whether the law actually pertained to the internet services or not.
The Justice Department of America however claimed that the Wire Act did refer to all types of online or internet gambling. In 2006, The congress wrote the SAFE Port Act and passed it to raise the US port security. Attached with it was the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act that prohibited US citizens from utilization of electronic fund transfer or checks, credit cards etc to fund any internet gambling activity.
What was important was the reality that the act dealt just with the funding of internet betting accounts rather than the actual placing of the bet. Therefore an online betting law attorney Lawrence Walters stated that the bill which was passed had no impact on the gambling activity of the person but centered only around the restriction of certain transactions that were financial and concerning the banks and internet gambling sites. Thus the bill did not make internet gambling illegal nevertheless it made funding ones bet or wager on the internet sites illegal criminalizing the financial transaction instead of the specific act of betting by way of the individual.
Rep Barney Frank then introduced in 2007, the Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act in order to legalize internet sports gambling and at the same time frame Rep.es McDermott introduced the Internet Gambling Regulation and Tax Enforcement Act to regulate betting sites on the web and collect tax on all bets made.
The country of Antigua and Barbuda in 2003 registered a complaint against the US with the World Trade Organization that the US (based on their sports gambling laws and ban on betting on the internet) violated their WTO rights. The WTO ruled in their favor and though the US appealed the initial ruling was upheld on lots of occasions. The WTO awarded Antigua and Barbuda trade sanctions worth $21 million and the right to penalize the United States copyright and trademark laws.