Poker bust: online gambling indictment.

• Author: Sullum, Jacob
• Position: Citings - Brief article

PREET BHARARA seems to be haunted by the fear that someone, somewhere, may be playing poker. Last year Bharara, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan, threatened an Australian payment processor with up to 75 years in prison for helping online poker companies do business with American customers. In April he announced similar charges against IX people associated with PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, and Absolute Poker, the three leading sites serving American players.

This is only the second time that the Justice Department has used the Unlawful Internet Gambling EnforcementAct in a criminal indictment. That 2006 law made it a federal offense, punishable by up to five years in prison, for a gambling business to "knowingly accept" payments "in connection with the participation of another person in unlawful Internet gambling" But the statute glaringly failed to clarify what "unlawful Internet gambling" meant.

Bharara does not claim online poker directly violates federal law, which prohibits the use of "a wire communication facility" to accept bets "on any sporting event or...