In 2006, the United States got what it had been attempting to do for a long time, criminalize online sports betting for all citizens. Internet gambling, however, was and remains to this day a complicated issue. The Interstate Wire Act of 1961 was passed to stop sports gambling activity conducted over the telephone. Many people have been confused as to whether this act also applies to the Internet. As the act was enacted prior to the invention of the Internet, nobody was confident whether the law applied or not. Further, the act did not specify the type of gambling it was intended to control. Did it apply to all sorts of gambling or was it just betting on sports?

Even with all of the questions swirling around this matter, there was one surety. If you are the proprietor of a gambling website, then you will be relentlessly pursued by the government. This is one situation about which they are very serious. Of course, if you get to the source, you can resolve the problem. Further, focusing on a few hundred website owners is much easier than chasing ten million or so individuals.


Presently there is a huge and continuing discussion regarding sports gambling. Those who are opposed to it feel that it will result in the fixing of games. But in reality that is not probable in professional sports since it would be very hard to have players, coaches, referees and owners all conspiring to fix the outcomes of every game. Those who favor sports betting state that it is simply something people do for entertainment as they are watching the game. My personal thought is that sports gambling will sooner or later get everything that you have.

I have known many sports gamblers throughout the years and every one began small with $5 or $10 bets. Ultimately, they hit a bad streak and lose everything, always thinking that they only need one win to get it all back. As an example, if you lose ten times back to back, you can drop a great deal of money. 1st bet: $100, 2nd bet: $200, 3rd bet $300, 4th bet $600, 5th bet $1,200, 6th bet $2,400, 7th bet $4,800, 8th bet $9,600, 9th bet $19,200, 10th bet $38,400. As you can see, if you begin by betting just $100 and try to get even as you are losing ten times running, it makes a total that you lose of $76,800. I can imagine what you may be thinking. Who would do something like this? People have gotten wrapped up in it and I have witnessed it firsthand. Sports betting is extremely emotional and at times you do not use your brains but rather bet on that emotion.

Recently there have been discussions regarding the legalization of online gambling with the government taxing the winnings of the bettors. Frankly, I am hoping that this does not occur as I have experienced what sports gambling is capable of doing to a person. Gambling brings out the devil in people. If I had the deciding vote, I would vote that online gambling remains illegal in the United States.