U.S. Government Cracks Down on Websites Advertising Gambling Sites. 6 year Old Thread bumped

10/08/2003 - 9:44 PM ET

U.S. Government Cracks Down on Websites Advertising Gambling Sites

By Christopher Costigan,
If you run a gambling portal or similar website, prepare to have all your records and banking information readily available when law enforcement comes busting through your door.

Reports have surfaced that a handful of sports services received a letter from the Department of Justice asking that they remove all internet sports gambling advertisements from their respective print publications. Don Best and Jim Feist are now complying.

However, we need to separate the fact from fiction. While not much is known about recent subpoenas issued against a handful of gambling-related websites and publications, the underlying motives do appear much more complicated.

For example, Sports911.com was the first to report that College Football News was subpoenaed last month. Immediately after law enforcement officers left the premises, CFN removed all sports book banners from their Illinois-based website. Illinois is the only state that makes advertising online gambling companies illegal.

According to Sports911.com sources, law enforcement may be reviewing a "tax" issue associated with the CFN subpoenas as well, though the folks at this publication are not exactly forthcoming with information.

Don Best is believed to have removed online gambling ads as a precaution and other sports services like Jim Feist probably followed suit. It is believed that both companies received a letter from the Department of Justice.

Interactive Gaming News also reported that at least one other gambling portal was subpoenaed last week in Missouri, though the information here continues to be sketchy. What we do know is that the business in question has operated since 1997.

This all comes at a time when a government agency, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) of New York City has already cashed a fat check to plaster offshore sports betting company BetonSports.com ads all over city buses.

As a public service to those involved with this industry, Sports911.com offers the following advise:

1) If you have online gambling ad banners and links posted all over your website, it is suggested that good organized records be maintained. Do not replace "ad" money with Bonus Betting accounts. Records of transactions are vital in case of audit. Don't have money wired to Uncle Moe in Brooklyn either.

2) Pay your taxes and if possible pay an estimated tax before hand like Sports911.com does on a quarterly basis. You can never be too safe!

3) Do not contribute to illicit activity. Whenever possible, website owners should discourage activities they deem "suspicious" or not in accordance with U.S. law. Instruct your readers to what is lawful.

4) Don't be foolish. Law enforcement agencies exist to protect all of us. We should never try to discourage law enforcement from reading sites such as Sports911.com as this would defeat the purpose of protecting society as a whole.

5) Find some relatives, roommates, friends, friends of friends, friends of friends who know friends who are police men and FBI agents. Get them drunk on their birthdays. Hook them up with a nice girl. Buy them a nice dinner. And pretend that you are a Mets fan even if you are not. Befriend a politician while you are at it.

6) Do not participate in affiliate programs. These can be misconstrued as revenue sharing, which technically it is. Sports911.com requires that all ad money be paid upfront for tax purposes.

7) Incorporate and get a good attorney. Sports911.com works with only the best attorneys. Yours Truly has already paved the way for setting legal precedence Read Here.

8) Do not collect cash from online gambling proceeds, even if it is for advertising.

9) Create as much paperwork as possible. Buy a bunch of filing cabinets and label each of them "A". When law enforcement enters your office with their subpoena, point to the cabinets and tell them the rest of the alphabet is located in various storage facilities spread throughout different towns. They might leave.

Okay scratch out Number 9....but hopefully this list will help guide you to becoming a more lawful citizen. If you do not obey, see you in Alcatraz.


end of article


a damn fine read i must say and trust me these people are f*cked if the US goverment gets involed because if that law passes alot of people are going down anyone follows the recent events in the "dave and charlie world" know exactly what i'm talking about here.


bad news is a comming BOOK IT !!!

DAMN.

You dont realize how much this crap upsets me!! American citizens are turning more into slaves everyday.

I'm trying to understand what is going on with this. Is the Federal Government trying to "help" selected states enforce the particular state law in the absence of a Federal law? I just heard for the umteenth time an ad for TC Bets on 1310AM . It runs I think most every day and is done by Tony Mercurio.
Maybe I'm just lucky to live in a state that doesn't seem to want or ask for federal government help in this area. I'm not, in any way shape or form trying to be a smartass here. I just simply do not understand why Uncle picks particular states?

Hard to figure out.

They banned smoking in public places in Florida, but 20% of the places you go in have some law that allows it.

When I think of Florida--I usually think of California. Both kinda strange states. I've never been to California, and I guess Florida leads the polls for where people go to retire. So maybe there is more of that memory problem there--Alheimers, I think is the name. It's hard to use labels for much of anything either.
Smoking banned in public there. Well I'm glad I quit that a couple years ago. Still, I don't mind other people smoking as long as they don't exhale. A tough act. But at least, I don't hurt anyone else when I gamble. Yet--the fact that others would deny me to do so when I in no WAY affect them is scary in this great land!

not sure I buy any of it...they do that then they let the buses of NYC ride around with banners on the side...to funny, its a joke

[This message was edited by Dante on October 10, 2003 at 12:16 PM.]

If WildBill will just call the Justice Department and explain that these ads are legal this huge misunderstanding can be cleared up.

Lester--A good one!

Actually I think Wild Bill will be explaining it to them as soon as he tells us here first!

This is all about politicians getting the vote. The cat is already out of the bag. With the millions involved there will always be a way to get down overseas. The only worse law they could enact is the 6 ft stripper rule they just passed in LA. No stripper with 6 ft and I think you have to put the dollar bills in a bucket. Now if that law became national we would have a catastrophe. Thank you.

Kyhawk- The stripper law would be a bad beat for you sir.

ps- For those that dont know, Kyhawk spends thousands annually on strippers.

No Strippers within 6 feet!!! In Cal? R U kidding me?

Dante--about the Buses and NY. Now there is One place on earth that has allways marched to the beat of a different drummer. (Hey the'll soon have all the Strippers from California moving to the Big Apple--Prices will drop!!

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by STRUT888/FISHHEAD:
Kyhawk- The stripper law would be a bad beat for you sir.

ps- For those that dont know, Kyhawk spends thousands annually on strippers.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

wow 1000's..

But Strut did you not tell me you spend at least $2000 a week on strippers? (sorry if I was not suppose to tell)

Bad days are a coming - i think they'll be an exodus to the UK for gamblers. Sooner they get a sports gambler as President the better.

I seem to vaguely remember the Rev Jessie Jackson telling us : "Stay outta the bushes, America".

Next time-- we should listen. And before anyone thinks I'm a democrat, I voted Liberterian.

Remember about the Dems and Reps. As per Ross Peroe: "tweedle Dee and tweedle Dum".

I rememeber reading one of the Aussie posters putting up this recently and, as an American, couldn't agree more sad to say: "Australia started as a penal colony and developed into a free nation and America started with ideals of freedom and is steadily becoming a penal colony."

you right by saying bad days are coming, and few things are going to be shaken around in the sportsbook and casino industry.

But sports betting will not go away...

Credit shops will survive.

Am I the only one who noticed who penned this crap........

Take it with a grain of salt..........

College Football News still has ads but its interesting to see Lou Diamond vindicated.

Feist and Corbo don't want to fight this as they both have plenty of money and don't need the hassle. Other venues that need the ad revenue like this site or others may fight it if confronted.

Bottom line the DOJ can do whatever they want and as long as they don't push it too far they aren't going to get a lot people fighting back.

The last thing people like feist or dana want to do is fight off money laundering or aiding and abetting charges when they have a good revenue model elsehwere.

Check out those sites, the ads are gone and WildBill was wrong (again).

The real question is this: Did Feist or Dana turn over the information about the advertising accounts as I'm sure was requested by the letter.

Were they subpoened?