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In an interview with the Baltimore’s 1090 AM, Baltimore US Attorney Rod Rosenstein made it clear that gamblers would not be subject to criminal prosecution from gambling online, including those looking to play Internet poker.
“People need to be familiar with the law in their particular state,” Rosenstein said. “There are some states that allow gambling but companies that are in the business of providing online gambling services are generally prohibited under US law and prohibited from moving money back and forth through banks, which is how they operate.
“And so these indictments target, not the users but the businesses that are in violation of US law by providing these services.”
Rosenstein’s office set up a fake payment processing company that acted as intermediaries between a handful of online gambling companies. On Monday two of those companies were indicted, BMX, which is a holding company for Bookmaker, DoylesRoom and Fun Time Bingo, among others, and BetED.com. The BMX brands were up and running within minutes of the indictments being announced while BetED.com was forced to shut down on Wednesday. BMX had only transferred less than $100,000 into the fake processing company. Nine of the ten domains seized belong to that firm. One individual from that company, an accounts receivable employee by the name of Ann Marie Puig, was charged simply because she signed off on the application to do business with Linwood Payment Solutions, the fake processing company. Ms. Puig, an outstanding law abiding citizen whose only crime appears to be working in an industry that has helped fortify Costa Rica’s economy over the past 15 years, is no longer permitted to travel to the US for regular visits with her elderly parents as a result of this indictment.
As for the domain seizures, Rosenstein noted that, in the past law enforcement agencies would simply shut down indicted business, now they are shutting down the Internet storefronts, the website domains.
- Chris Costigan, Gambling911.com Publisher
