Okay, this much we know about online gambling in South Africa. The North Gauteng High Court says that online casinos are illegal. The Gauteng Gambling Board agrees and plans to have any violators arrested. Many online casinos, such as Piggs Peak, disagree and are appealing the decision. The GGB says that the country’s laws about online gambling are crystal clear while Piggs Peak says that they will resume online gambling operations in the country once the confusion is resolved. So obviously somebody is wrong.

Here’s another interesting variable, though. Online betting is perfectly legal there. As if to confuse things further, today Powerbet Gaming spoke up and reminded the world that their enterprises are completely legal and sanctioned by the government.

Powerbet Gaming released a statement that said that “there is considerable confusion among members of the public, banking institutions and the media regarding the legal position of online gambling and betting in South Africa.” Okay, I definitely agree so far. They then went on to say that the online gambling that is banned is online casino games. However, sports betting and online bookmaking “has been offered legally in South Africa for several years, within a well-established legal framework, and administered by provincial and national boards.”

The reason Powerbet wants to make it clear that online betting is legal in South Africa is that they are the parent company of Voltbet.com, an online betting site that is based in South Africa and licensed by the Western Cape Gambling and Racing Board. According to Powerbet Gaming, there is no legal ban on placing a bet with Voltbet or similar companies.

If you’re confused then that would put you in the majority. To me, the only thing that seems clear is that nothing is really clear. Isn’t government regulation and bureaucracy great?

It hurts the most when someone you care about disappoints you. This time it’s Israel. The Middle Eastern nation is blocking access to online gambling providers from overseas. It seems that online gambling is illegal in Israel and the country is protecting its citizens from themselves.

I would expect such a thing in Saudi Arabia, Iran or Syria. Israel, however, prides itself on being a bastion of freedom in the Middle East. They pride themselves on being a symbol of Western civilization, technological advances and liberty. For the most part, this is true. The people of Israel, regardless of race, religion and socioeconomic status, live mostly free from oppression and government control. Like the United States, though, the government has grown over time while spending more and more money, putting the nation in the red. Facing tough economic times, the country needs extra revenue now more than ever, so this would be a good time to legalize online gambling and tax it, but the country is going in the opposite direction.

Last month, Israeli police began visiting the internet service providers (ISPs) in the country, brandishing orders to block access to overseas online gambling websites. The police handed over a list of blacklisted websites, including their IP (Internet protocol) addresses. The ISPs are ordered to block those IP addresses to prevent Israeli citizens from being able to access online gambling sites.

There are several problems with this. First of all, though Israel has every right to enforce their own laws, I am against laws that ban online gambling in the name of protecting the people. Let the people protect themselves. Secondly, using an IP address to block websites is not very effective, since the online casino owners can simply start a new website with a different IP address. People smarter than me can also find ways of faking or cloning IP addresses. Some also say that the law the police are using applies only to brick and mortar casinos, not online casinos, and therefore the government is overstepping their authority. Since I’m not familiar with Israeli law, I don’t know if that’s the case.

In any case, most ISPs are cooperating fully with the orders, though some plan to contest the orders in court. It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Israel isn’t the only Western or Western-influenced country to attempt to censor the Internet by blocking certain websites. Australia, France and Norway come to mind.

A new law in the U.S. state of North Carolina may outlaw and shut down the only significant form of gambling currently going on within their borders. A new law, House Bill 80, was passed by the state legislature last week and is awaiting the signature of Governor Beverly Perdue, who is expected to sign the bill into law within the next week.

This isn’t the first time that gambling fans in the Tar Heel state have been targeted by lawmakers. Dating as far back as 1791, most forms of gambling have been illegal. In 2006, the state passed laws that banned video poker. That same year, Congress passed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, which allows the feds to go after financial institutions involved in transactions related to “unlawful” online gambling, whatever that means.

Last year, North Carolina’s legislature passed a law banning online gambling. The law targeted online slot games, or “server-based electronic game promotions,” as it is worded in the law. That shut down the online slot business at Internet cafes, but the gamblers found a way around the law.

As a way of complying with the letter of the law while still allowing customers to spend their money as they please, Internet sweepstakes cafes were established. These establishments and the games they provide are legal because they have predetermined sweepstakes systems for the awarding of prizes, rather than it being done in an online pool. In addition, the sweepstakes machines don’t pay out to the players, since that is banned by a different state law. Instead, players get their winnings from a teller in the café.

If House Bill 80 becomes state law, North Carolina residents will lose yet another form of gambling and the Internet sweepstakes cafes will have to shut down. The law would take effect on January 1, 2011, so the cafes would have to be closed by then.

At least this crackdown didn’t involve running people over with tanks. China has vowed to crack down on gambling in the country and has been doing just that. A recent raid in the province of Yunnan has resulted in an arrest of 21 suspects accused of running an illegal online gambling operation. In addition, their bank accounts containing approximately ¥550,000 have been frozen.

Back in February, China’s Ministry of Public Security placed a new emphasis on putting an end to online gambling in the Middle Kingdom. Since that time, they have arrested over 3,600 suspects and frozen over ¥700 million in funds, according to the state-run Xinhua News Agency.

Gambling – both online and land-based – has been banned in mainland China since the communist government took power in 1949. I think it’s because they don’t like an individual having an influence over whether their amount of money gets larger or smaller. The government wants to be the one that decides that (after all, there are state-run lotteries).

With the World Cup taking place in South Africa, China is currently placing an emphasis on sports betting. All overseas online casinos and sports books are banned from accepting Chinese customers. China monitors those sites to look for activity from its citizens. If any get through, there can be swift “justice” exacted upon the Chinese citizen. Of course, if you’re a Chinese citizen, there’s a good chance that the Communist Party of China monitors everything you do anyway, as we have found from the controversy surrounding their hacking of Gmail.

China defends controlling how people spend their money, what information they get from the news, and what terms they can search on the internet on the grounds that they are protecting the nation by removing things that would harm the people. Letting people gamble is bad because it’s not good for them. Engaging in nuclear proliferation with North Korea – a nation that might be crazy enough to start a nuclear holocaust, denying freedom of religion, freedom of property and the right to vote for their national leaders is what’s best for the people, though.

In the controversial subject of gambling expansion, it seems that everyone has an opinion. Lawmakers in Rhode Island have gone and done something rare in this day and age: They will let the people decide.

I know, I know. It’s just crazy. They’re acting like the government is supposed to work for the people or something. Late yesterday, the Rhode Island House of Representatives passed a bill authorizing a voter referendum on gambling expansion. Hours later, the state Senate passed the bill. The bill now goes to Republican Governor Donald Carcieri, who is expected to sign it. If he does, that sets the table for a voter referendum during the November election.

The gambling expansion at issue involves to existing state-licensed slot parlors, Twin River in Lincoln and Newport Grand in Newport. If the referendum is passed, the slot parlors could be adapted into full-fledged casinos, including blackjack and other popular casino table games.

The bill passed the House on a 62-12 vote and the Senate on a 21-14 vote. Representative Peter Petrarca, a Democrat, stated that he was excited about letting the people decide because they “are intelligent enough to know what they want to do,” thus contradicting the official Democratic party platform.

Not everyone is excited about it, though. Fellow Democrat Senator Teresa Paiva, who represents Newport, isn’t a fan of gambling expansion in her community. Many lawmakers expressed concerns for possible detrimental effects on the community, such as in increase in gambling addiction.

In the end, though, the lawmakers did the right thing. There are pros and cons to everything and in this case, they’re letting the people decide. Of course, this is also a clever way of protecting themselves politically. Gambling is a controversial issue and these lawmakers will be able to avoid responsibility for the outcome of the vote because they didn’t decide; the people did.

Rhode Island is seeking gambling expansion in part because Massachusetts is considering the same and they are worried about losing gambling customers across the border. In this tough economic climate, many states are looking to gambling expansion, including some considering legalizing and regulating intrastate online gambling.

Today the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), which was passed in 2006 as part of the SAFE Port Act, officially takes effect. What does that mean for online gamblers in the United States?

Not much, to be honest. The law makes financial institutions responsible for blocking transactions related to “unlawful” online gambling, though it doesn’t outline what is unlawful. UIGEA does not constitute a federal ban on online gambling and no such ban exists, though some states do have a ban on the books. Players cannot be punished under UIGEA; only the financial institutions can.

A result of the law is that many online casinos, sportsbooks and poker rooms have stopped accepting American customers, afraid that they or the players won’t get paid by the banks. However, most of those online gambling sites had already made the move and left the American market. In a sense, though it was not yet in effect, players have felt the effect of UIGEA for the last 4 years. Another effect is that VISA and MasterCard block transactions to and from online gambling sites, but again, they made that move before today. In a sense, the UIGEA taking effect today only matters in a symbolic nature, because it has affected the American online gambling market since 2006.

To some, it may seem surprising that the federal government would seek to control the financial industry in such a way and take liberties away from the people, but America has moved a long way from its roots and no longer resembles the collection of free states that the Founding Fathers created. It started in the early 20^th century under Woodrow Wilson, when the government expanded its power in a time of war. The Wilson administration controlled public opinion using a propaganda machine that would later be copied by Nazi Joseph Goebbels and imprisoned anyone who spoke out against the government. Many practices, such as the banning of books and prohibition of alcohol, were done in the name of protecting the people.

In the 1930s, FDR followed in his footsteps, imprisoning political dissenters, running internment camps for German and Asian citizens, and unleashing a New Deal economic policy that prolonged the Great Depression all in the name of an expansion of government power. Again, it was for the good of the people. Now we have the Obama administration taking over the healthcare industry and the financial sector. It is, of course, for the good of the people, to save us from another recession.

In between we had Harding, Coolidge, Reagan and a few others who attempted to take control away from the government and give it back to the people. The result in each instance was great economic prosperity. That is why there is now hope for a complete repeal of UIGEA and legalization of online gambling. Massive government takeovers always leads to a backlash and right now you can see it in the Tea Party movement. That is why I wrote earlier that the Tea Party movement is the best chance we have for a repeal of UIGEA. A Congress with many pro-gambling Democrats and pro-liberty Republicans would do the gambling community well.

The Irish government is fed up with losing tax revenue to offshore online casinos. Online gambling is legal and regulated in Ireland, but there are plenty of Irish citizens who visit and play at online casinos based in other countries. Ireland wants a cut of that money.

Last week, Irish Taoiseach Brian Cowen announced a plan to begin taxing online gambling companies that access the Irish market. If his bill is passed, online casinos, bookmakers and any other internet or telephone betting companies would have to obtain a license from Ireland in order to do business with Irish customers.

It sounds like a good idea. If a company is going to do business with people in your country, why shouldn’t they have to be taxed like domestic countries do? However, there is a problem with it. For one thing, there is no law preventing Irish citizens from gambling at online casinos based overseas that do not have the required license. Also, there is no way for the Irish government to prevent their citizens from playing at an offshore online casino that they find via the internet (such as by doing a Google search). They could only prevent that if they decided to act like China and take authoritarian control over the Internet, which is not something I can see the Irish doing.

Therefore, it really only comes down to advertising. Foreign online casinos can only advertise in Ireland if they obtain the license. Without one, they cannot put ads in magazines, on TV, on the radio, on benches and buses, on subways, or anything like that. They will, however, still be able to advertise freely online, since the internet is global and Ireland doesn’t censor it.

Casinos in Connecticut are struggling to make money and are searching for ways to keep their business alive. That isn’t exactly a surprise. You can take that first sentence and replace “Connecticut” with any other state and replace “casinos” with virtually any other type of business and it is still accurate. Everyone is hurting right now, with the exception of labor unions, government employees, and political activists that are helping shape government policy.

Casinos are among the hardest hit by recession, though, because when people begin to tighten their wallet, trips to casinos start being cut out of the budget. Even President Obama told people not to go to Vegas anymore, which didn’t exactly please their Chamber of Commerce.

In light of all of that, casinos are looking at new ways to make money. Some in the Connecticut casino business, such as Rodney Butler, the owner of Foxwoods Resort Casino, are suggesting a reduction in the legal gambling age. Currently you need to be 21 to gamble in the state of Connecticut. The proposal would reduce the minimum gambling age to 18. Others within the casino industry, such as Mohegan Sun casino owner Lynn Malerba, disagree.

Malerba is chairwoman of the Mohegan Tribal Council and chief of the tribe. Through a spokesman, she stated that she believes that “the difference between a gambling age of 18 and a drinking age of 21 would make such a change very difficult to implement and manage.” Malerba indicated that changing the gambling age to 18 would only work if the drinking age was also lowered to 18 due in part to the fact that gambling and drinking tends to go hand in hand within casinos.

I imagine Malerba is worried about potential lawsuits if the casino staff serves alcohol to minors. Currently anyone allowed admission to the casino is legally allowed to drink so there is no problem. In addition, are 18 year olds going to be interested in visiting a casino if they can’t drink? I don’t think so. That brings up two possibilities then. Either reducing the gambling age would not attract new business because the 18 year olds would not go to the casinos knowing they can’t drink, or the casinos would have to be lax in their carding of guests. Many bars have a reputation for not checking ID’s frequently, which makes them popular with minors. However, a casino caught doing that could conceivably be fined, face legal action or even be shut down.

And while we’re on the subject, saying that 18 year olds are old enough to gamble with their money but not old enough to order a beer is just ridiculous. Society needs to determine at what age a person is an adult. Different states have different rules on that. The legal age of consent ranges from 16 to 18, the drinking age used to range from 18 to 21 depending on the state, but that changed with the passing of the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984, which effectively changed the minimum age to 21 in every state. You must be 18 to buy cigarettes in most states, though in some it is 19. In most city, county and state law enforcement agencies you must be 20 or 21 to join. You must be at least 21 for a federal law enforcement job. However, in every state in America you may join the military at the age of 18.

Does any of that make sense? Now I support a state’s right to set their own age limits rather than having it all done federally. That will cause a difference in the ages from state to state. Can we at least get some consistency within the state borders, though? Why do we have some states where you can have sex at 16, join the military at 18, join the police department at 20 and drink alcohol and gamble at 21? If you’re 18, you’re mature enough to go off to a foreign land and risk your life defending America but not mature enough to have a beer while you’re there? Oh, and you better not play poker in the barracks, either. I also think it’s crazy that we have cops who are not legally allowed to drink arresting people for underage drinking.

So what should the age be in Connecticut? It’s something to think about.

Oh, those crazy Chinese are at it again. We know that the Communist Chinese government isn’t too high on freedom, including a free flow of information or the ability for people to do what they want with their money. Come to think of it, in China it’s not really your money, is it?

Anyway, those zany folk in Beijing have stated that there will be a crackdown on what they call “overseas hostile forces.” Of course, in China, you are seen as being a hostile force if you are anything other than the Chinese government, which means that everything overseas is automatically hostile.

In Red China, there is actually a department in the government called the Information Office. It is that office that controls what information the people are given and is responsible for telling the people what they want to be known and hiding what they don’t want to be known. So, in that way it’s a lot like Obama’s relationship with the New York Times.

Anyway, Wang Chen (no, I didn’t make up that name) is the chief of the Information Office and he released a statement saying that China “will strengthen the blocking for harmful information from outside China to prevent harmful information from being disseminated in China and withstand online penetration by overseas hostile forces.”

Allow me to translate that from propaganda to English. When China says “harmful information,” what they mean is any information that doesn’t match the official information released by the Information Office. For example, information about freedom, democracy, protests, ownership, property, and human rights would be considered “harmful” information that needs to be kept from the people. Such information is currently being blocked from the Internet in China, but there are always ways around that censorship, which is why they need to crack down.

How this relates to online gambling is that in China’s mainland, gambling is illegal. That includes online gambling. However, there are many online casinos from overseas that currently accept Chinese customers. Online gambling is another thing that is considered harmful by the Chinese government, because it is a way for the Chinese citizens to spend money on something that is not provided by the government.

In response to this statement, many online casinos that were accepting bets from Chinese customers have stopped. Some have delayed deposits and withdrawals from China. Some online casinos have warned Chinese customers that the government may be monitoring their transactions.

So for any Chinese online gamblers, I’m sorry to say that you may soon be out of options for casinos. Of course, I’m also sorry to say that you live in China, don’t have freedom, and may soon be arrested and taken to a secret prison for the “crime” of reading this article.

Just so we’re clear, here’s a list of things that China does and doesn’t like. This is not a comprehensive list.

Chinese government likes: communism, controlling all aspects of the lives of its citizens, manufacturing products and selling them to America, running over protesters with tanks, executing political adversaries and starving millions of people to death.

Chinese government dislikes: freedom, democracy, truth, Google, privacy, religion, public gatherings, private property, self-sufficiency and online gambling.

Daniel Tzvetkoff doesn’t appear to be a bright man. After allegedly ripping off lots of online casino operators, he showed up at a conference in Las Vegas that was full of them and was surprised when he ended up in jail.

Let’s go back to the beginning. Mr. Tzvetkoff, who is an Australian citizen, was arrested on Friday for bank fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy to operate and finance an illegal gambling business. According to the indictment, he created fake websites for shell companies and used those companies to engage in financial transactions with financial institutions. All transactions were sent by these shell companies. Mr. Tzvetkoff allegedly used an Automated Clearing House (ACH) system to funnel hundreds of millions of dollars between the United States and the British Virgin Islands.

Using the ACH transactions, Tzvetkoff, former co-owner of IntaBill, allegedly moved money from the bank accounts of online gamblers in America to his offshore shell companies. From there, he moved the funds to accounts at online casinos. The shell companies were used to move money back and forth between the online casinos and the player’s accounts.

The American legal system has a term for those types of transactions: money laundering. According to the indictment, the online casinos stopped doing business with Tzvetkoff in March of 2009 because he had stolen $100 million from them. On Friday, Tzvetkoff appeared at a conference in Las Vegas attended by representatives from many of those online casinos. Not surprisingly, a tip was called in to the FBI and Tzvetkoff was arrested a short time later.

I think there are some lessons to be learned here. First of all, don’t launder money or commit bank fraud. Secondly, if you rip off a group of people for $100 million, don’t go hang out with them at a social event.

If convicted, Tzvetkoff could spend 75 years in prison and pay back at least $543 million in fines and restitution.