When Chris Christi, the Governor of New Jersey, caved into political pressure a few weeks ago and vetoed a bill to legalize online gambling in his State, the District of Columbia, better known as Washington D.C., passed a bill that would allow online gambling within its jurisdiction.  That’s funny because the U.S. Department of Justice, located within the jurisdiction of Washington D.C., has recently shut down three online poker sites that were doing business in the United States.

One of these companies, absolute Poker, is licensed by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission.  Absolute Poker has computer servers at Mohawk Internet Technologies, a business located on the Kahnawake Mohawk Reserve which hosts some of the Internet’s most frequented online gambling sites.  This is big online gambling news because the Kahnawake Gaming Commission has maintained its right to regulate, license and host online gambling operations, even those identified as illegal by the United States.

The United States Government charged eleven individuals from the sites of Poker Stars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker with bank fraud, money laundering and illegal gambling.  In 2006, the U.S. enacted the UIEGA law that prohibited banks from processing payments to offshore gambling websites.  These three companies continued to accept gamblers from the U.S., almost 10 million persons.

It would be ironic if this was the impetus to federalize and legalize online gambling in the U.S. once the IRS sees the vast revenues that have gone uncollected through the illegal gambling operations in the U.S.  In other online gambling news, Internet sources have confirmed that the most recent Online Casino Gaming Global Outlook Study has confirmed that gaming accounts for 10% of all activity on the Internet.

It is no small wonder that the online gambling news from Nevada involves an amended version of legislation bill AB258 that drafts rules that would regulate online poker within the State of Nevada upon receiving the sanction of Congress or the Justice Department.  Under this bill, online sites would be required to have a partnership with an existing non-restricted license holder or an affiliate that has been in business for at least five years.  This stipulation would augment the sphere of gambling for the existing brick and mortar casino companies already in Nevada.

Economists predict that Nevada could collect as much as $4 million in taxes annually if online poker is legalized.  Online gambling news will be watching the developments with baited breath and will report future developments as soon as they occur.