The ban on online casinos in the USA badly affected several online casinos who were forced to shut down their US businesses. Many British companies saw their revenues fall dramatically as they were forced to leave the world’s biggest internet market.
The Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act (UIGEA) came into law in the USA in 2006. The law relating to internet gambling is extremely complicated but I will try to make some sense of it. Each separate state has its own gambling laws in addition to the UIGEA. The UIGEA doesn’t actually ban online gambling outright but makes money transactions over the internet from the act of gambling illegal. However, US operators are allowed to offer punters, horse racing and fantasy sports betting as well as online lotteries. Overseas internet sportsbooks as well as online casinos are banned from accepting payments from customers in the USA.
This has led to strong international disagreements between the USA and its trading partners most notably the EU. There has been international pressure for the USA to lift its restrictions on online gambling.
Many of the US gambling community are backing Barack Obama for President in the forthcoming presidential election as they feel he is more likely to reverse the UIGEA than his rival John McCain.