Casino affiliate and forum site.

[Success]

Hi,

I am thinking of starting a casino affiliate site with forums and articles.

May I know if this is allowed under the new law?

I'm not staying in USA, but my server is located in USA.

How will the law affect me?

And, what are your advice?

Also, since many search engines do not allow casino related ads, how do you get traffic for your casino affiliate sites?

Thank you.

[helpyou]

And, what are your advice?

1 option : don't do the website
2 otion : to choose one u.k hosting

Also, since many search engines do not allow casino related ads, how do you get traffic for your casino affiliate sites?

nothing traffic for now for me. I am interested to this question.

[mgcasinos]

Hi,



Also, since many search engines do not allow casino related ads, how do you get traffic for your casino affiliate sites?

Thank you.

link exchange

write useful content

make yourself in google

[Success]

How will the law affect me?

What happens if US citizens participate in my forum and click on the casino affiliate links on my site?

[Nandakishore]

How will the law affect me?

What happens if US citizens participate in my forum and click on the casino affiliate links on my site?

Nothing because a click on the link does not mean that the person is playing for real money. The problem starts when he wants to play for real money because the UIGEA prohibits banks and other payment systems, like NETeller, from carrying out financial transactions with online gaming sites.

Nandakishore
Online Casino Newsroom

[Success]

Does that mean that I can start a football betting, online gambling affiliate site with forum without worry?

As long as my server is not in the US?

[andrewxr]

I'm not staying in USA, but my server is located in USA.

Don't worry. 3 of my sites are located in USA.

How will the law affect me?

Nothing.

And, what are your advice?

Use seo.

[Success]

Can you explain more in detail why you are not affected?

I thought that law has a part on abetting a player.

If a US player click onto my affiliate link and play at a casino or sports betting service that still accept US players, and I get paid a commission, isn't it considered as abetting?

[MichaelCorfman]

There are actually quite a few questions here.

First, in terms of the content you are talking about (forums and articles) there is generally not an issue with having that sort of content on a site since it is generally protected free speech under the First Amendment as long as the content itself is not illegal or being used illegally under US laws (e.g., articles where the copyright belongs to others and you don't have permission, or child pornography).

You state that you are not staying in the US, but you don't indicate whether or not you are a US citizen. If you are a US citizen living abroad, then I don't think it makes much difference whether or not you reside inside or outside the US in terms of the applicability of the UIGEA and actual legal liability. However, I do think it would help to reduce any legal risk since decisions whether or not to prosecute someone are definitely influenced by both the difficulty of prosecution and the probability of success.

If you are not a US citizen, then I would suggest that using US-based hosting is not the best decision from a legal perspective in that it does help to establish nexus for US laws, and such nexus would definitely be harder to claim if your operations are entirely outside the US.

Now comes the part about whether it is OK to be an affiliate for online gaming. There is an area where there are shades of grey, and where lawyers have differences of opinion, and where there is not well established case law to help determine which legal opinions are correct and which are incorrect.

Certainly sports betting is more firmly established as being illegal than casino gambling at the federal level. At the state level, different states have different laws, and so the legal implications differ from state to state.

The legalities of promoting online gambling on an affiliate website have to do with whether or not such an activity constitutes aiding and abetting an illegal activity (the federal terminology), or constitutes criminal facilitation (state terminology for the same thing). There can also be money laundering considerations if you personally bring money into the Unites States from outside the United States for such purposes.

If the promotion is for casino games, and is based on fixed rate advertising (such as CPM type contracts), then that arrangement is quite clean. There can still be some risk if payments are received in the form of tainted funds (funds from the proceeds of illegal activities). On the other end, when the advertisements are targeted to a specific geographic area, and they are for sports betting, and they are based on a share of revenue, then the legal risks are the greatest. The big government advertising funds seizures have all been based on specific US magazine and radio audiences in the US involving sports betting, and involving claims of tainted funds as the justification.

When you are dealing with a website with an international audience, and casino gaming (rather than sports betting), and a webmaster running a small site that will not create a big media splash as a result of a more difficult prosecution, and no established legal precedents, then only a prosecutor who is a fool would take any action. Prosecutors have limited resources, and they spend those resources where they most effectively further their objectives.

Most prosecutors are pretty smart. I'm sure there are a few dumb ones out there, but you would have to have a really dumb one to take on a case like the one you suggest. And one that was that dumb probably could never win any case in court. So, it my view, the risk of prosecution and conviction is about a close to nil as you can get.

Please note, however, that I am not an attorney, and my comments are simply my personal opinion, and should not considered legal advice. But I do know some high-powered attorneys who will basically say the same thing if you pay them lots of money.

Michael

[mojo]

Most prosecutors are pretty smart. I'm sure there are a few dumb ones out there, but you would have to have a really dumb one to take on a case like the one you suggest. And one that was that dumb probably could never win any case in court. So, it my view, the risk of prosecution and conviction is about a close to nil as you can get.

LOL! Great post Michael and is similar to my feeling. They are not interested in the smaller affiliate like myself right now, if ever. They are looking for the big dogs and the big bucks. If they did decide to try..well good luck with that.

[Success]

Michael,

Thank you very very much for the detailed advice.

I have been reading and searching on the implication of this law on affiliates like myself. Everyone seems to have different interpretation. The most detailed and best info I have read came from GPWA and CasinoCity related sites.

I'm not a US citizen. I'm also not staying in US.

I am not setting up an online casino or betting service.

The sites that I was planning on doing are just simple forum, articles and affiliate links.

The first one is online gambling, focusing on online casinos, poker etc.

The second one is football (soccer) betting.

For hosting, I am currently using a US host. But I can find a host elsewhere for these sites that allows gambling/betting content. Any recommended host, anyone?

I don't want to go into this area if it's illegal or pose me any legal risk if I travel to the US.

I want to find out how to operate within the law and how to protect myself.

[MichaelCorfman]

U.S. based prosecutors will go after someone local for a particular type of issue in an area where the case law is most clear. In my opinion, you have absolutely nothing to worry about unless in the future case law clearly establishes that being an affiliate is a criminal activity. In my strong opinion, that sort of case law will not be established by by the filing of a lawsuit against someone in your situation.

I do view that there is some increased risk with hosting in the US, but the risk is primarily that the host will shut down the site if they are challenged for hosting it by a government agency. However, that sort of challenge is extremely unlikely at the present time.

Michael

[Success]

Is the situation still the same now?

Is it ok to operate an gambling/betting affiliate site and not run afoul of the gaming law?

What precaution should I take?