Hi, Before I go hire a lawyer, I want to see if anyone knows a bit about the gambling laws on the internet. I want to offer a a Texas Holdem' poker room on my site where members can play in tournaments as well as sit-n-go's. I want the members to be able to win money at the tournaments and I want a small percentage of the pots to go to the site in an effort to help keep the site going. So, essentially, the "rake" I receive will act as payment for using the poker room. Does that make sense and if so, is it legal?
Most Casinos ( that's essential what you would have a virtual casino ) requires licensing by your states lottery department as well as other gaming authorities to insure that the intergrity of the game is up to par. I agree with browntwn move on it's more of a headache then anything. Unless your like from Nigeria our something j/k don't do it. Do something else.
Completely depends on your locale. You didnt say where (a) you reside and (b) where your website is hosted...
It's not going to matter much where he is hosted, as he's still required to follow the laws of the place he lives in. Only time it will make a difference is if he gets hosted outside his country, at which time more laws and regulations will come into play. @OP, if you are American, you unless you have a substantial amount of money to invest in this, don't do it.
Really? Can you please tell me where I can find the documentation for this? I also want to clarify that this will only be a poker room with play money and no other casino games. I am living in the US but my site is hosted in Panama.
You are going to take a share of "play money" as a rake? Your two posts are not consistent. Either you are playing with real money and taking a rake or it is a free play game with no money at state. Do a little research if you need convincing that it is illegal in the US.
One of the biggest myths on webmaster boards is that you can escape US law by moving your hosting offshore. If you are physically located in the US, then you are bound to US law regardless of where your servers are located or where your company is set up on paper. If it's play money then you are fine. If it's real money then it is illegal for you to run the site. The Bush admin also made it illegal for banks to process gambling site payments, so they have set up blacklists. You can start your search for more info here: http://www.google.com/search?q=illegal+online+gambling
You'll get shut down and probably arrested. Legally you should be able to create a business entity outside the USA but it's more complicated than just having offshore hosting. You'll have to get an accountant, setup a corporation in another country, and have a bank account in that nation too. Many gambling sites are owned by US residents that own a business outside the USA. This is completely possible but I have heard the minimum entry costs to do this is in the $xxx,xxx. Setting up a top-tier poker site is not cheap. You'll need good coders and scripts to ensure no one can cheat.
I'm guessing they have blacklisted US residents from playing there. Being on US soil and running a foreign casino that profits from US gamers would be a ballsy thing to do.