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I Hope you enjoy shopping at the Racing Ahead store and that you find what you are looking for. From time to time, new additions will be made to departments so please do come back and look again.
Online BettingOnline betting is a general term for gambling using the Internet.
Online Betting - PokerOnline betting poker tables commonly offer Texas hold 'em, Omaha, Seven-card stud, razz and other game types in both tournament and ring game structures. Players play against each other rather than the "house", with the card room making its money through "rake" and through tournament fees.
Online Betting - CasinosThere are a large number of online betting casinos in which people can play casino games such as roulette, blackjack, pachinko, baccarat and many others. These online betting games are played against the "house", which makes money due to the fact that the odds are in its favor.
Online Sports BettingBookmakers and betting exchanges offer fixed-odds online betting over the Internet on the results of sporting events.
Online Betting - BingoThere are a number of online betting bingo rooms offering games on the Internet.
Mobile / Online BettingDevelopments in the use of wireless, mobile devices used for online betting follow in the wake of mainstream online gambling.
Funds Transfers for Online BettingTypically, online betting gamblers upload funds to the online betting gambling company, make bets or play the games that it offers, and then cash out any winnings. European gamblers indulging in online betting can often fund their accounts by credit card or debit card and cash out winnings directly back to the card. However, most US banks prohibit the use of their cards for the purpose of online betting and attempts by Americans to use credit cards at online betting sites are usually rejected. A number of electronic money services offer accounts with which online betting can be funded. However, many top fund-transfer sites such as FirePay, Neteller and Moneybookers have discontinued service for U.S. residents. Payment by check and wire transfer is also common.
Legality of Online BettingUnited StatesThe United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled in November 2002 that the Federal Wire Act prohibits electronic transmission of information for sports online betting across telecommunications lines but affirmed a lower court ruling that the Wire Act "'in plain language' does not prohibit online betting on a game of chance."Some states have specific laws against online betting of any kind. Also, owning an online betting operation without proper licensing would be illegal and no states are currently granting online betting licenses. In March 2003, Deputy Assistant Attorney General John G. Malcolm testified before the Senate Banking Committee regarding the special problems presented by online betting . A major concern of the United States Department of Justice is online money laundering. The anonymous nature of the Internet and the use of encryption make it especially difficult to trace online money laundering transactions. In April 2004 Google and Yahoo!, the two largest internet search engines, announced that they were removing online betting advertising from their sites. The move followed a United States Department of Justice announcement that, in what some say is a contradiction of the Appeals Court ruling, the Wire Act relating to telephone betting applies to all forms of online betting and that any advertising of such gambling "may" be deemed as aiding and abetting. Critics of the Justice Department's move say that it has no legal basis for pressuring companies to remove advertisements and that the advertisements are protected by the First Amendment. As of April 2005, Yahoo! has instigated a restrictive policy about online betting ads. In August 2004, Casino City, an online betting portal for internet gambling sites sued the US Department of Justice. The complaint alleged, inter alia, that the website's business — promoting online betting — was legal and requested a declaration from the court that its business was protected by the First Amendment. The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana dismissed the case in February 2005. In February 2005 the North Dakota House of Representatives passed a bill to legalize and regulate online betting directed at online poker cardroom operators in the State. Testifying before the State Senate, Nigel Payne, CEO of Paradise Poker, pledged to relocate to the state if the bill became law. However, the measure was defeated by the State Senate in March 2005. Rep. Jim Kasper, who sponsored the 2005 online betting legislation plans to introduce similar bills in the 2007 North Dakota legislative session. In July 2006, David Carruthers, the CEO of BetonSports, an online betting company publicly traded on the London Stock Exchange was detained in Texas while changing planes on his way from London to Costa Rica. He and ten other individuals had been previously charged in a sealed indictment with violations of US Federal laws relating to illegal online betting . While as noted above, a United States Appeals court has stated that the Wire Act does not apply to non-sports betting aspect of online betting , the Supreme Court of the United States previously refused to hear an appeal of the conviction of Jay Cohen, where lower courts held that the Wire Act does make it illegal to own a sports betting operation that offers online betting to United States citizens. The BetOnSports online betting indictment alleged violations of at least 9 different Federal statutes, including 18 USC Sec. 1953 (Operation of an Illegal Gambling --online betting-- Business). Carruthers is currently under house arrest on a one million dollar bail bond. In September 2006, Sportingbet reported that its chairman, Peter Dicks, was detained in New York City on a Louisiana warrant while traveling in the United States on business unrelated to online betting . Louisiana is one of the few states that has a specific law prohibiting online betting . At the end of the month, New York dismissed the Louisiana warrant. Also in September 2006 just before adjourning for the midterm elections, both the House of Representatives and Senate passed legislation (as an amendment to the unrelated SAFE Port Act) that would make transactions from banks or similar institutions to online betting sites illegal. This differed from a previous bill passed only by the House that expanded the scope of the Wire Act. The passed bill only addressed banking issues. The Act was signed into law on October 13, 2006 by President George W. Bush. At the UIGEA bill-signing ceremony, Bush did not mention the online betting measure, which was supported by the National Football League but opposed by banking groups. In response to the SAFE Port Act, a number of online betting operators including PartyGaming, Bwin, Cassava Enterprises and Sportingbet announced that real-money gambling operations would be suspended for U.S. customers. PartyGaming's stock dropped by 60% following its announcement. Other online betting operators such as PokerStars, Bodog, and World Sports Exchange announced their intention to continue serving customers in the U.S. On April 26, 2007, Rep. Barney Frank introduced HR 2046, the Internet Gambling / online betting Regulation and Enforcement Act, which would modify UIGEA by providing a provision for licensing of online betting facilities by the Director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. On June 7 2007, Rep. Robert Wexler introduced HR 2610, the Skill Game Protection Act, which would legalize Internet poker, bridge, chess, and other online betting games of skill. Also on June 7, Rep. Jim McDermott introduced H.R. 2607, the Internet Gambling / online betting Regulation and Tax Enforcement Act. IGRTEA would legislate online betting tax collection requirements. On June 8 2007, the House Financial Services Committee chaired by Barney Frank, held a hearing entitled, "Can Internet Gambling / Online Betting Be Effectively Regulated to Protect Consumers and the Payments System?". Expert witnesses at the hearing testified that online betting can be effectively regulated for age verification, money laundering issues, facilitation of state and federal tax collection and for issues relating to compulsive gambling.
Online Betting in AustraliaOn the 28th of June 2001 the Australian Government passed the Interactive Gambling Act 2001 (IGA). The government said that the IGA was important to protect Australians from the harmful effects of online betting .The IGA targets the providers of online betting services and not their potential or actual customers. The IGA makes it an offence to provide an online betting service to a customer physically present in Australia but it is not an offence for Australian residents to play poker or casino games online. In stark contrast to the USA, sports online betting is also completely legal in Australia with many state government licensed sportsbooks in operation, such as Centrebet, Sportingbet & Betfair. The offence applies to all online betting service providers, whether based in Australia or offshore, whether Australian or foreign owned. The offence carries a maximum penalty of $220,000 per day for individuals and $1.1 million per day for corporate bodies. Complaints regarding online betting facilities serving Australian users can be made to the Australian Communication and Media Authority.
Online Betting in Other CountriesVarious forms of online betting are legal and regulated in many countries including most members of the European Union and several nations in and around the Caribbean Sea.The Indian federal government does not prohibit online betting but in the state of Maharashtra it is a banned offense under the "Bombay Wager Act". Russian legislation enacted in December 2006, prohibits online betting altogether (as well as any online betting relying on telecommunications technology). The government of the island nation of Antigua and Barbuda which licenses online betting entities, made a complaint to the World Trade Organization about the U.S. government's actions to impede online betting . The Caribbean country won the preliminary ruling but WTO's appeals body somewhat narrowed that favorable ruling in April 2005. The appeals decision held that various state laws argued by Antigua and Barbuda to be contrary to WTO agreements were not sufficiently discussed during the course of the proceedings to be properly assessed by the online betting panel. However, the online betting appeals panel also ruled that the Wire Act and two other federal statutes prohibiting the provision of online betting services from Antigua to the United States violated the WTO's General Agreement on Trade in Services or "GATS". Although the United States convinced the online betting appeals panel that these laws were "necessary" to protect public health and morals, the asserted United States defense on these grounds was ultimately rejected because its laws relating to the remote nature of online betting on horse-racing were not applied equally to foreign and domestic online betting companies and thus the United States could not establish that its laws were non-discriminatory. On March 30 2007, the WTO confirmed the U.S. "had done nothing to abide by an earlier verdict that labeled some U.S. online betting restrictions as illegal." On June 19 2007, Antigua filed a claim with the WTO for USD $3.4 billion in trade sanctions against the United States along with a request for authorization to ignore U.S. patent and copyright laws. This followed by a day similar demands for compensation made by the European Union.
Problem Gambling and Online BettingIn the United States in 1999 the National Gambling Impact Study stated "the high-speed instant gratification of online betting and the high level of privacy they offer may exacerbate problem and pathological gambling". A UK government-funded review of previous research noted a small scale patient survey leading to press reports claiming that 75% of people who indulge in online betting are "problem" or "pathological" gamblers compared to just 20% of people who visit legitimate land-based casinos.A study by the UK Gambling Commission, the "British Gambling Prevalence Survey 2007", found that approximately 0.6% of the adult population had problem online betting issues, the same percentage as in 1999. The highest prevalence of problem online betting was found among those who participated in spread betting (14.7%), fixed odds online betting terminals (11.2%) and online betting exchanges (9.8%). Additionally the report noted a 4% drop in overall online betting in the prior year from a rate of 62% in 1999 to 58% in 2007. Significantly the 2007 prevalence survey combined with the 1999 prevalence survey suggest that despite the rapid growth of online betting there has been no associated increase in the number of online betting problem gamblers.
Money Laundering and Online BettingIt has also been alleged that the largely unsupervised electronic funds transfers inherent in online betting are being exploited by criminal interests to launder large amounts of money.
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