Affiliation Legality

[netgambl]

Hello. I've been reading this forum for several weeks now and learned a lot of things I would have probably not found elsewhere on the Internet. This is a great forum.

I've been interested in a gambling affiliation program for a while now, but my legal concerns was always my barrier. I reside in the State of California, USA.

I have a few important questions, and I would appreciate honest answers. Don't worry, I will not sue anyone for any misguidance; in fact, I despise those type of people. I just need some answers from experienced people in this industry.

First, I understand there might or might not be state and/or federal laws making online gambling illegal. Whoever you ask you get a different answer. My concern is being affiliated with a casino. I understand that being affiliated is commercial and therefore free speech, but portals are basically How-To guides to online gambling, and could that be considered a serious offense?

Second, are you required to pay taxes for commission you get paid from offshore? If so, which form(s)? Individual 1040*? Or are you considered a business and need Schedule C? Wouldn't you automatically admit to be involved in online gambling if you file with the IRS? I don't understand this, and a detailed explanation would be appreciated. I'm hoping taxes aren't required.

And finally, how would you rank the legal risk involved in affiliation from 1 to 10 - 10 being the greatest? I read a lengthy article on Lawrence Walter's site (can't find the URL right now), and in his opinion, if you are affiliated with online gambling you can be treated as if you own and operate that casino. Two years jail time. Hundreds of thousands of dollars of fines.

Anyway, I hope there will be people here with answers to my questions. Feel free to private message (PM) me if you wouldn't like to discuss in public.

Thank you for your time, and once again, great forum!

[Ace Fun]

Is this still going on? I felt that things had quietened down since America lost it's case with the WTO. Now that many casinos have fled America, would they be able to restrict international trade in a legal commodity?

[casinoglen]

Hello Netgambl, and thank you for the praise ! GPWA is a great place!

To some extent you have answered your own questions.... You will get many different answers to these questions around each corner. The best place to start would be with your own local laws.

As far as taxation, Everything that I do on the 'net, whether it be my hosting company or whatever, all gets put into my accounting program, under it's respective "department" and gets counted as income. When I file my taxes, I file a schedule "C" along with my 1040. The information from the 1040 of course filters down to my state taxes.

As I will be incorporating in short order, this will soon change for me, but on a level that you are speaking of, it would be as a sole proprietor and thus counted as taxable income on your personal tax forms.

As far as legality goes, again, it all depends. I would expect that it will also depend on who is in "office" at the time as well.

Hope this helps!

[Randy]

I'm going to repeat what some other folks have said. Seek legal advice from lawyers, not message boards.

That being said--here's my uneducated and nonprofessional opinion: You're probably not going to spend two years in prison for running an online gambling portal. I think anyone who thought there were going to have to spend time in prison over it wouldn't be hanging out on this message board anyway. Google, Yahoo, and every other search engine on the web still promote online gambling in their listings, even if they have pulled their paid advertising. That's part and parcel of providing people with info on the web.

What people do with what they find on the web is their business.

I am a big believe in having a disclaimer, written by an attorney, displayed on your website.

None of the above constitutes professional legal advice. It's just my opinion, and I make no claims regarding my opinions' accuracy. (On this or any other matter.)

[netgambl]

Thank you for the replies.

Consulting an attorney would be great, but it's not an option for me at the moment because of the cost involved.

I strongly agree with "What people do with what they find on the web is their business" - unfortunately, governments desire to rule cyberspace as well.

Anyway, thanks again for the replies. I'm going to research taxes, and probably get advice later on from a cheap attorney regarding my local laws. I wonder how much those online legal networks cost. Well, off to my research...

[Randy]

Ask around a bit among your friends. You might know someone who knows someone who might be willing to give you cheap or free legal advice. That's what I've always done. Cuz I'm cheap.