The illegal status of online casinos in the United State has once again generated a business idea that ends in arrest.  Quite a few arrests made in recent years would not have happened if the United States had taken the same route as the United Kingdom with regards to online casinos and regulated the industry.  Now a Canadian man is facing very serious charges for trying to facilitate the needs of gamblers in the United States.

Douglas Rennick is facing federal charges of bank fraud, money laundering and illegal gambling offenses.  A major part of online casinos and the Internet gambling business is the need of payment processors to allow players to deposit funds as well as allow online casinos to make payouts.  The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act made it illegal for United States player to use the most popular forms of payment processing, such as credit card.

Rennick, 34, filled this void by creating several bank accounts in the United States under corporate names.  He had apparently been maintaining some of these accounts since 2007.  The accounts were used to receive funds from online casinos; those funds were then distributed via check to online gamblers in the United States. 

Rennick has allegedly processed more than $350 million for online casinos and Internet gambling companies.  When opening the accounts, he claimed that they would be used for issuing rebate checks, refund checks, and other payroll processing.  If Rennick is convicted of these accusations, not only will he face hefty fines but he could also serve time in prison.