Football betting has been a popular activity across the world and it has just recently started catching on in the United States. By football, I mean the sport that most Americans call soccer but almost everyone else calls football (though it was the English that first used the term soccer as a nickname for Association Football).

Not long ago, the world, and even some in America, was enthralled with the FIFA World Cup. The World Cup is also the largest sports betting event in the world. In other years, that betting didn’t really cross over to the United States, but this year it had its biggest year ever in the States. If you are an American and want to engage in football betting and other sports betting, there are some things you need to know.

The most important thing you need to know is whether or not it is legal. In America, it is illegal to place sports bets online, over the phone or through any other electronic means (like with a smartphone app). This isn’t some gray area like some types of online gambling. The Wire Act expressly prohibits electronic sports betting.

So where can do you bet on sports in America? In betting shops or casinos that are licensed and regulated by the government. The biggest spot to do that in is Las Vegas, where any casino has bookies on hand to take your sports wagers. Aside from in Nevada, there are three other U.S. states where you can legally bet on sports offline. You can also place sports bets in Oregon, Montana and Delaware. If you are not physically located in one of those states and place a bet on sports you are breaking the law. Possible exceptions include office pools and other small-time bets (like those squares for the Super Bowl), which some states allow and others don’t directly address.

Just because you can’t bet online doesn’t mean the Internet can’t help you with your betting. It is recommended that you use the vast resources at your disposal — everything from Google to sports betting sites to players’ Twitter accounts — to research the teams, players and all other factors that could impact the outcome of the game.

You might think that, aside from Steelers fans, everyone came away from the Super Bowl happy. After all, the team with the alleged rapist and a plethora of dirty hitters lost. The small-market team led by the humble star quarterback who never had a single bad sound bite during any of the Brett Favre soap operas won. Best of all, it happened in a tense and hard-fought game. If that’s what you thought, you were wrong.

The Super Bowl isn’t only the biggest sporting event and television event in America. It is also the biggest betting event in America. Nevada is one of the few places in the United States where sports betting is legal, so they normally make a lot of money off of the Super Bowl. This year, however, though betting increased from last year, the Nevada casinos barely made any money off of the event.

Betters wagered approximately $87.5 million on the Super Bowl at Nevada casinos this year. That’s a sizeable increase from the $82.7 million that was bet on last year’s title game. Despite that wagering increase, the casinos only made $724,176 on the big game, which is less than 1% of the money wagered. That makes this Super Bowl the second-worst year for casinos and sportsbooks in the last decade. The only worse year came in 2008, when the Giants’ upset of the Patriots lost the casinos $2.5 million. That is the only year in the last decade when casinos have lost money on Super Bowl betting.

Betting on sports is a risk for the better and the sportsbook. In this case, because the Packers covered the spread and the combined score of 56 points reached the over, betters made out well and the casinos did not.

So the bad news is that an event that usually brings money to the casinos (and Nevada casinos really need money right now) didn’t help. The good news, of course, is that most of the betters who wagered on the game came away from the game happy. So congratulations, sports betters.

Want to legally place a bet on a sporting event within the U.S. state of Nevada? There’s an app for that. The Nevada Caming Commission has approved a smartphone application that would allow players to engage in sports betting using their mobile phones.

The app, designed by the Leroy Group, lets Nevada residents place sports bets on their Blackberry phone. Only the Blackberry app has been approved so far, with the Android app pending approval. The key roadblock to approval was the need to convince the Gaming Commission that the app’s technology was sufficient to verify that the person using the phone was actually physically located within the state of Nevada when placing the bet. That is important because sports betting is illegal in most U.S. states.

The Interstate Wire Act of 1961 makes it illegal to use a phone or “wire communication facility” to place an interstate or international bet on any sporting event or contest. That makes any online sports betting illegal if it crosses state lines, because that would make it subject to the federal “interstate” law. With the activity confined to Nevada’s borders, though, the federal Wire Act lacks jurisdiction in Nevada.

John English, Senior Vice President of Business Development and Public Affairs for American Wagering, who was involved with the project, is excited that the gambling app was approved. “The Nevada regulators placed significant challenges on American Wagering to provide a means of offering account wagering on a mobile device whereby we could verify that the bettor was in the state,” he said. He then triumphantly added that “we rose to the challenge and succeeded.”

Laws and regulations often build upon other laws and regulations. What starts as something small snowballs into something much larger, for better or worse. That being the case, allowing online gambling via a sports betting app may pave the way for Nevada to allow all forms of online sports betting and, eventually, all forms of online gambling. It may take some time, but government regulations rarely stay where they started. They tend to branch out and expand. Doing so in this case could help Nevada become the major online gambling hub for the United States.

In a recent meeting between the 16 Länder ministers in Germany, it became clear that there is no consensus for online gambling. Of the ministers in attendance, there were three major opinions regarding gambling. Currently, games of chance are banned in Germany, but that ban – the State Gambling Treaty – will expire in January 2012 if not renewed.

Germany is made up of 16 federated states, called Bundesland or Länder for short. Each Länder is governed by a Ministerpräsident (Minister-President), and a parliament that is made up of the Landtag and the Senate. Though their system of government is more complicated than I need to go into for this blog, the important part is that each Länder has a degree of sovereignty, where they can decide their own gambling laws. Certain laws, however, cover each state at a nationwide level. Currently each Länder is bound to the laws they agreed to as part of the State Gambling Treaty.

In the meeting between the Länder ministers, they agreed to maintain a monopoly on lotteries. However, they could not come to an agreement about whether they should allow private operators to compete in Germany’s online sports betting market. Currently there is a monopoly that does not have any legal competition.

Without a consensus on online sports betting, it seems likely that instead of reaching another agreement for a new State Gambling Treaty, the market will be regulated by each individual state. A group of Länder governed by Social Democrats wants to keep the existing sports betting monopoly intact. Meanwhile, a group of five Christian Democrat-governed Länder want to open up the industry to private operators.

The state of Schleswig-Holstein wants to issue licenses to private companies for casino games, online poker and online sports betting now so those companies can have websites up and running when the State Gambling Treaty ends.

Without a new treaty being signed between states, Germany will become a more confusing place for online gambling. I guess that’s good news, though, since it will give me more to write about and more cool Deutsch words to learn.

Right now, most of the Northern Hemisphere is seeing record-breaking cold temperatures, freezing pipes, running up heating bills, keeping people indoors, killing crops and causing all kinds of problems. It’s enough to make you wish that “global warming” was real. Though the aforementioned problems are well known, not many people think of the impact cold weather has on the gambling industry.

For starters, I’m having trouble typing this because my fingers are numb. That is only a minor concern, though. A bigger concern is a loss of revenue. Online betting exchanges make a lot of money on sports like horse racing. With the freezing temperatures, though, many races have been cancelled. That is done both for the protection of the horses (and jockeys) and also because not many people are willing to stand in freezing temperatures to watch a race, anyway.

Betfair, one of the biggest online betting exchanges in the world, has seen a drop of stock value as the weather has hurt their bottom line. CEO David Yu stated that that cold weather has “caused a number of race meeting cancellations, moderating overall growth rates in the quarter to date.”

Of late, Betfair’s stock has dropped by 10%. Since their stock market flotation in October, shares have dropped by 34% overall. Last quarter, revenues were up 27% at Betfair, aided largely by increased betting on the FIFA World Cup.

Horse racing and soccer (or football, depending on where you are) are two of the biggest betting subjects. Though soccer games will still take place in virtually any weather, horse racing can be delayed, postponed or canceled due to bad weather. Keep that in mind when you complain about the cold. If you think it’s ruining your day, think about how the staffs of online betting exchanges feel.

There is a push to regulate online sports betting in India and it’s coming from an unlikely source: the United Kingdom. India gained their independence from the U.K. back in 1947, but the British crown still has a lot of influence in the country and they are trying to use that influence to legalize and regulate online gambling.

On the heels of a major cricket scandal, where three Pakistani bowlers were caught accepting bribes for a match against England, the U.K. government sees a regulated sports betting industry as being safer than the current prohibition. All forms of online gambling are banned in India.

The U.K.’s sports minister, Hugh Robertson, is in India to represent his government and the Gambling Commission, which oversees all of the online casinos based in the United Kingdom. Robertson will attempt to persuade India to let go of a gambling law that has been in place before the Internet even existed (it was passed in the 1800’s) and regulate the market instead.

This may surprise you, but the U.K. isn’t involving themselves here simply because they care about the Indian citizens who want to place bets online. There is also a self-serving interest at stake. The U.K. feels that if sports betting is regulated in countries where cricket is popular (such as India), the sport will be easier to control and more difficult to be corrupted. The gambling syndicates believed to be behind the cricket bribery scandal are believed to operate out of India.

I find it laughable that the government feels that they can put an end to corruption and that an industry is safer if the government has more control. Considering how corrupt governments – including in the U.K. – are and how many business scandals are caused by governments (and that’s just what we hear about), I’m not convinced. It’s true that if the online betting industry is underground it is more difficult for the government to police it. However, who says having the government doing the regulating makes it safer? I am all for legalizing online gambling, but it should be done in the name of freedom, not so the government can protect the people, since they always fail miserably at that task.

Though online gambling is illegal in India, it is estimated that they have a $250 million-per-year industry. Some of that money is spent on illegal operations in India, but the bulk of it is spent overseas, including in the U.K.

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?

If The Barney Frank/Ron Paul online gambling bill becomes law, UIGEA will be repealed and online casino gambling will be legalized and regulated in the United States. Sports betting, though, would still likely be left out.

Yesterday, the Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection and Enforcement Act (HR 2267), which was concocted by Democrat Frank and Republican Paul, cleared the House Financial Services Committee. By a 41-22-1 vote, the bill to license and regulate online gambling in America passed the committee, paving the way for it to be voted on by the full U.S. House of Representatives.

There are already compromises in the bill, though. Republican Peter King inserted an amendment that emphasizes that sports betting would remain illegal online and offline. King did so to protect the interests of powerful and loved sports leagues in the country, particularly the NFL. King admitted that “the NFL has concerns about gambling.”

To be honest, so do I. Sports betting scandals are terrible for the leagues, the teams and America (just ask the Chicago White Sox or Tim Donaghy). Concerns over game fixing don’t necessarily mean that sports betting should be banned, but it is a legitimate concern.

In any case, the bill passed the House with King’s anti-sports betting amendment. However, that doesn’t mean the amendment will say in the bill. During the full House mark-up, it can still be removed. Another amendment was added by Republican John Campbell and Democrat Brad Sherman. That amendment ensures that online casinos that target U.S. customers would have to be based in America, thus ensuring that the country would profit from the legislation and not lose revenues overseas. Other amendments were added for the protection of players, requiring the online casinos to post the odds of the games, have loss limits and verify the players’ age and location.

The online gambling bill is not yet scheduled for a floor debate and is not expected to be brought to the floor earlier than early September.

Dear China,

China, China, China. I know you’re not all bad. You have good food and your architecture is pretty cool, despite the fact that some of your walls are flimsy and highly flammable. You just can’t seem to get past this whole oppressive authoritarian government thing, though.

Stop living in the past. The results are in from the global experiment on totalitarianism during the early 20^th century. Turns out no one liked it. Nazism? Believed by most casual observers to be the most pure embodiment of evil mankind has ever witnessed. Stalinism? Actually killed more people than Hitler and was more oppressive to the people. It’s currently only viewed favorably by a few crazies around the world. Maoism? Well, you guys in China actually made the Nazis and Bolsheviks look downright kind. Sure, the Soviets starved millions of Ukrainians to death, but the Maoists dwarfed that death toll and it was your own people!

It’s time to move on. You say you’re just doing what’s best for China, but if you actually took an honest poll, you’d be surprised how many people would like to be able to protest without being run over by a tank. You’d be shocked how many people would like to have free access to information, especially a news media that isn’t controlled by you. If you asked about gambling, I can ensure you that you won’t have millions of Chinese saying “Please protect me from spending my money! I know you can be more responsible with my money than I can, so please take it from me. By all means, don’t let me gamble!”

I want to like you, China. President Nixon visited you a while back and said something along the lines of “Hey, you’re not as evil as you used to be; let’s do business.” And it’s true. You’re not as evil as you used to be. You have given up control of the economy to the free market. Now it’s time to embrace other types of freedom, such as freedom of expression, freedom of press, and the freedom to bet on a soccer game without getting sent to prison for a year.

That’s what happened yesterday, China. Don’t think I don’t know it.  You see, we have a (mostly) free press here, so I was able to find stories with headlines such as “China man gets 1 year in prison for online gambling.” I could find it because Google doesn’t censor search results as much here.

So here’s the story as I understand it. Please correct me if I’m wrong, China. A 20-year-old man, Zhao Yah, is a soccer fan. The World Cup was going on, which just so happens to be the biggest sports tournament in the world, despite the fact that your national team didn’t qualify. He decides that since there is such a high demand for sports betting in China, despite the fact that you think it’s a no-no, he will help people bet on the games through a website. You then have him arrested and sentenced to one year in prison plus a 10,000 yuan fine for the “crime” of helping people spend their own money on a fun game that is the most popular in the world. He didn’t even own or run the website, but was only a middle man who collected bets. Did I get that right?

China, I’m glad to see that you gave him a comparatively light sentence (thanks to his cooperation), but I think this can be a teachable moment. You see, if so many people were willing to give him money to bet on the games, maybe that means that your people want legalized online gambling. Maybe you should hear them out.

I hope you take these comments not as insults but as constructive criticism. The truth is, I want to like you, China. Sure, you poison American children with your dangerous toys and support a tyrannical North Korean regime, but I know there is good in you somewhere. You need to let it out. It’s okay. Germany managed to stop being evil a long time ago. Isn’t it time you did, too?

Sincerely,

Jeremy

According to Xinhua, China’s government-run news agency, the Chinese government has successfully taken down a major online gambling ring. According to their reports, last month the government broke up a highly organized and sophisticated gambling ring that has gained more than ¥100 billion ($14.8 billion).

Prior to the World Cup, China promised to crack down on illegal online gambling, which they say is a menace to society in the same way that freedom of speech and democracy are. Bets can be placed in three state-run lotteries, but all other gambling is illegal on the mainland. In addition, online gambling of any kind is strictly prohibited.

According to Xinhua, the ringleader of the online gambling ring went by the name of “Dark Brother.” He was supposedly arrested as he left a “cocaine-fuelled nightclub party” in Shenzhen. According to the oppressive communist government, who I find trustworthy and have no reason to doubt, Dark Brother led an organized gambling ring that encompassed southern and eastern China. Another member of the ring, who went by “Old Cat,” helped run the operation from her apartment.

China did not qualify for the World Cup this year, but that didn’t stop the Chinese people from betting lots of money on offshore bookmakers. In total, the Chinese Center for Lottery Studies estimates that more than ¥87 billion is spent on online gambling by Chinese citizens.

Because online gambling is so secretive, it has been hard for the government to stamp out, despite their strict controls over the internet. After the embarrassment of a fraud scandal involving Chinese soccer referees, though, the government has vowed to put an end to online betting. If any country can do it, it would be China, who is better than most at denying basic liberties.