In light of recent developments regarding online gambling in the United States, whether it be bingo or casino poker sports betting, we are once again being asked the million dollar question: is it illegal for me to gamble online if live in the US?

The answer we give is the same as always, although now our position has been backed by the Government of the United States. The bill that supposedly made it illegal in 2006 did not, in fact, make it illegal for you to gamble, but rather made it illegal for US banks to process gambling transactions. This in itself was ineffective as many of the gambling companies were not using US banks anyway.

It absolutely did not make it a crime for a person to play at an online casino or poker site. Given this glaring loophole in the law, even the banks fought back, saying they shouldn’t be put in the position of policing online gambling. At the same time, Senator Barney Frank was preparing a bill to make the ban obsolete and instead do the right thing and regulate the online gaming industry.

The important deadlines here are Friday, November 27, 2009, Tuesday, December 1, and Thursday, December 3.

Tuesday December 1st is the day the UIEGA gambling ban would come into effect. This was to be 2 days before Senator Barney Frank had his Regulation Bill heard by committee on Thursday December 3rd.

However, on Friday, November 27, something happened, the US government postponed the implementation of the gambling ban for six months until June 1, 2010. This can only be to allow the correct approach of regulation and allow the Barney Franks bill to be sent through the channels.

From a pragmatic point of view, everyone involved knows that online gambling in the United States will be legalized, regulated and taxed in the next 18 months, so why put more pressure on a banking system that is already overburdened with something that will be annulled in such a short time? It seems that common sense has prevailed and the way is now open for the legalization of online gambling in the United States of America.

This, of course, was the only course of action available to the US government and it was unavoidable. The question this leaves is where do the big Vegas casinos go from here? As we’ve written about before, companies like MGM and Las Vegas Sands haven’t exactly been proactive in their move toward preparing for the upcoming legalization.

All we can say is that our door is always open should you need any advice.