Poker Site Owners Arrested and Charged with Crimes

Image via WikipediaNot long ago the US government attempted to ban the highly lucrative business of internet gambling. While they were unsuccessful in actually enacting the ban, they were able to ban the processing of payments for the sites, virtually crippling their income source.

However, many sites, most of which are hosted overseas, managed to find sneaky ways to process payments and winnings for US based players. That was until today.

A federal prosecutor unsealed an indictment today that charged three poker sites and a wide variety of banks in the US with violating the gambling laws.

Of course this comes just as several lawmakers are attempting to pass a new bill that will legalize the internet gambling industry. They are hoping that they will be able to tap into the business and start taxing the industry, opening up billions in new funds in new taxes.

The taxes are the exact reason why the internet gambling bill was put up in the first place. The government had not found a way that they could tax the sites without getting into a lot of difficult situations because online companies are not actually considered to reside within the US and therefore they are not subject to taxes.

This is sure to be one hell of a showdown in the courts as the owners of the poker sites are going to have their lawyers warmed up and ready for the fight.