Do US Companies Invest Illegally In Online Casinos?

Even though the regulation of online casinos is under discussion in the United States, at this moment playing in online casinos and operating online casinos from American soil is still illegal here. However, according to a media report published last Sunday, this doesn't stop American companies to buy millions of shares in online casinos. These companies stated that they know investing in these casinos is at a legal risk, but the financial benefits of owning shares in a growing and highly profitable industry are more important that the threat of penalties or fees.

Several major firms hold hundreds of million dollars in shares of online casinos that are officially illegal, but are openly traded at the London Stock Exchange. These online casinos are located in offshore locations like Costa Rica or Gibraltar, to avoid complications with the US law.

More and more US companies invest in the shares of online casinos, which emphasize the strange situation of online gambling in the United States. Not only is America the largest distributor of players of online casinos in the world today, even the American companies seem not to take the US laws very serious when it comes to online casinos. Both casino players and companies believe that the activities on the internet are cross-border activities, which cannot be limited by country laws.

Some legal experts believe that the American investors and major firms that are buying the shares of online casinos are not criminally liable for their actions. American companies invest in many offshore operations that might be considered illegal or unacceptable in the States, and they are never told not to, so why start with online casinos?

Other experts claim that investing in online gambling operations is completely different from any other kind of offshore investment, since the American population play illegally in the online casinos that are supported by American companies and this is officially breaking the law.

According to Jaclyn Lesch, spokesperson for the Justice Department, online gambling is considered an illegal activity in the United States, but she couldn't tell the press clearly if she thought that a person or company could be held liable for participating in any way in this illegal activity.

Bob Goodlatte, a Republic of Virginia and opponent of off-line and online gambling, stated that it seems like the US government has given up on the subject of online gambling and stopped enforcing their own gambling laws. He believes the US justice department is making a fool of themselves.

Many gambling critics believe that this is just one of the many situations that show just how much the online gambling laws are being ignored in the States. Everyday, millions of Americans log on to online casinos and spend hours behind the computer playing poker, blackjack, craps or any kind of slots machine.

Anywhere in America, you can find advertisement of online casinos in printed media and on cable television, an embarrassment for the United States Justice Department.