When the United States Congress passed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act back in 2006, they created a menace on all things online casinos.  Unfortunately that is not exclusive to online gambling activities in the United States.  The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act has been used quite often to bring charges against non US citizens.  The question has begun to arise as to whether the law is actually endowed with that power.

Several charges have been drummed up using the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act against people that do not even live in the United States.  One of the biggest cases in the history of online casinos took place back in 2007 when NETeller cofounders, John Lefebvre and Stephen Eric Lawrence charged with intent to promote illegal gambling and for transferring billions of dollars for online casinos.  Before this embarrassing fiasco, NETeller was the largest independent online money transfer business in the world.

Another big case based on the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act took place the year before when an executive for BetonSports, David Carruthers, was charged with committing conspiracy, racketeering, and Fraud.  None of these men –  Carruthers, Lefebvre, or Lawrence were United States residence.

Some may argue that the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act was meant for extraterritorial use all along as no major online casino or online gambling operators are based in the United States.  It may come as a relief to many of the businesses that in all likelihood the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act will soon be overturned and stricken form the books.