Everyone loves to see a famous person gambling – and winning. Come to think of it, they would probably enjoy seeing them losing too, though I guess the image is a more cool one when they are seen to be on the winning side.

Who are the celebrity gamblers? Well, there are many. Some more famous and bigger celebrities than others, but what they share is a passion for gambling. Let’s face it. These people make more money in a day than most of us make in a month! They can afford to have a flutter occasionally – or even regularly!

George Clooney who used to star in ER is one avid gambling fan. He is often in Las Vegas and of course he starred in Ocean’s 11 and Ocean’s 12 – both movies about the Vegas gambling scene. He is alsl the co-owner of a casino and hotel complex called Las Ramblas.

Ben Afleck is another celebrity gambler. He is one serious dude when it comes to gambling. And reportedly he is good too. Ben has played in poker championships and was in the 2005 World Poker Tour Championship.

Matt Damon who also starred in Ocean’s 11 and Ocean’s 12 is another celebrity gambler. Matt, like Ben, is extremely passionate about playing poker, and he’s good too.

But you don’t have to be a celebrity to play poker. You don’t have to be anything in fact. Just head over to UK Betting Central and see what thye have to offer.

The Interstate Wire Act of 1961 prohibits sports wagering between states using telephone lines or through other wired devices. Since the Internet had not been in existence in 1961 there were questions as to how that could possibly apply to the Act.

Jay Cohen was president of the World Sports Exchange when he became the first U.S. citizen to be convicted for running an Internet gambling operation. He was convicted under the 1961 law that forbade interstate gambling via telephone lines. Legal scholars and gamblers alike were in awe of the decision and still continue to be. But since then there has been new technology that allows gamblers to log on to the Internet through means other than “wires.” Satellite systems are now quite prevalent and it begs the question: If a gambling operation were to take bets solely from computer systems logging onto the Internet through a satellite service, would they be able to circumvent this law? I’m willing to bet that there aren’t too many people willing to challenge it.

But even if they did, the most recent legislation to pass in the U.S., the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, empowers banks and other financial institutions to withhold funds for gambling debts and report persons guilty of violating the laws. That doesn’t exactly give us a boost of confidence.

While most online gamblers are American, most online gambling websites are located overseas. Many of them are located in the UK. Yet, just about every nation is moving toward legalizing gambling while the U.S. continues to move in the opposite direction. What will that do for worldwide residencies? Will U.S. citizens who like to gamble move abroad? Many already have. You can go to Curacao, Costa Rica, Antigua, or a whole host of other nations where gambling is legal and find a huge number of U.S. citizens living free and gambling to their hearts’ content. Will this be the worldwide trend as long as the U.S. battles online gambling, which is perceived as a sin by some? We certainly hope not.

Our friends across the Atlantic deserve as much of their freedom as we deserve of ours. So why don’t American authorities see it that way? God only knows. Still, gambling laws being what they are, we’d like to see it free and open everywhere. After all, what a person does with his or her own money is his or her own business. Isn’t it?

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It remains to be seen whether the U.S.s unlawful Internet gambling law will be repealed. But one legislator is bent on changing the law:

Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, said the law preventing the use of credit cards to bet online “is an inappropriate interference on the personal freedom of Americans, and this interference should be undone.” More bluntly, he has called the ban “one of the stupidest things I ever saw.”

We agree. The law essentially says that people in the land of the free aren’t so free that they can’t decide for themselves what to do with their own money.

One of the justifications for the law was the claim that gambling money was going to support and fund terrorism. Some people still believe that despite all the evidence to the contrary.

The $12 billion Internet gambling industry is based outside the United States _ most of the companies are British _ though about half of its customers live in America.

Will those who make such ridiculous claims say that British firms support terrorism? The U.S.s best and only international friend in the war on terror? We – the British people – supporters of terrorism, even while our troops continue to fight side by side with imperial stormtroopers from the other side of the pond? That’s a good one.

I, for one, hope that the UIGEA is overturned soon. I’d hate to see any more British citizens end up in American prisons.

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(Source) The political manipulation has been apparent since the beginning. Back in the summer of 2003, Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) said of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Funding Prohibtion Act, “We’re going to ban Internet gambling except for horse racing. Why? Well, it’s because the horse-racing lobbyists and the dog-racing lobbyists say that’s what we ought to do.” The National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA) PAC contributed over $300,000 to political campaigns in this past election cycle alone.

The WTO problem could largely go away if Congress was willing to throw the racing industry under the bus.

This is quite a testament to what’s been going on in the U.S. over gambling. The horse racing lobbyists have convinced politicians – primarily lawmakers – that all gambling is bad, except, of course, horse racing. The problem is, there is no logical reason why they should be believed. The horse racing lobby has made no bones about flagrantly flaunting its power. The industry is practically dictating to the entire world who should be allowed to gamble and how they should gamble. It is a type of unfair competition.

We have faith that the U.S. anti-gambling law will be overturned. Meanwhile, bookmakers around the world are continuing to do business in other countries while turning U.S. gamblers away at the door. It’s not a position the bookmakers want to be in. Unfortunately, most of them have no choice.

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The Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, Barney Frank of Massachusetts is about to introduce a bill to end the ban on internet gambling imposed by the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006. Frank has called UIGEA the “stupidest law ever passed” and is looking into introduce the legislation with the help of Southern Nevada Congresswoman, Shelley Berkley and others.

Common sense in Washington is long overdue. Finally, one of the legislators pulled his head out and realized that morality does revolve around him. Rep. Barney Frank could become an international hero if he succeeds in getting this legislation passed. The UIGEA is one of the most asinine laws any country has ever passed and other nations such as Antigua and Barbuda are right to challenge it at the WTO for breaking international treaties with those nations. It is time for the United States to undo what it never should have done and realize that its own citizens have the right to do with their own money as they please.

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