THANKS TO JANET RENO, HERE'S WHAT WE HAVE TO DEAL WITH...INSTEAD OF SPENDING MONEY N EFFORT ON ADDRESSING THE ISSUE AND CHARGING MURDERERS, CHILD MALESTORS, RAPEST...ETC...THEY'D RATHER FUC.K WITH A BOOK, THAT I FEEL IS CUTTING BACK N ONLY HELPING IN THE STATES BY MAKING OFFSHORE SPORTSBOOKS LEGAL. MAKE IT LEGAL, AND IT DOES AWAY WITH ALL THESE "LOCALS" OR WANNA BE "GODFATHER PIMPS" WHICH IVE SEEN IN MANY CASES LEAD TO CRIME, ROBBERY, AND EVEN MURDER OVER ILLEGAL TRANSACTIONS....ONCE AGAIN, LET IT BE LEGAL N YOU DON'T HAVE THIS....LEAVE THE WAGERING INDUSTRY ALONE!!!!!
Shannon71
Web gambling conviction upheld
By Reuters
July 31, 2001, 3:00 p.m. PT
NEW YORK--A federal appeals court on Tuesday upheld one of the first convictions of a defendant charged with running an illegal offshore Internet sports-gambling operation.
The U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed last year's conviction of Jay Cohen, co-owner of World Sports Exchange (WSE), based on the Caribbean island of Antigua. Cohen, who was sentenced to 21 months in prison and fined $5,000, has remained on bail pending the outcome of the appeal.
A Manhattan federal jury found Cohen guilty of operating a sports-betting business that illegally accepted bets and wagers on sporting events from Americans over the Internet and by telephone. Prosecutors said Cohen started his bookmaking e-business in 1996, and by 1998 it had received 60,000 phone calls from U.S. customers, including 6,100 from New York.
Cohen, originally from Long Island, was one of the first defendants to stand trial in Manhattan in a series of offshore Internet sports-gambling cases brought under the federal Wire Wager Act. Prosecutors said they believe his jury conviction was among the first for online offshore sports betting.
Under the Wire Wager law, it is illegal to use telephone lines in interstate or foreign commerce to place bets on sporting events. It also outlaws transmission of information that helps gamblers bet on sporting events and contests.
Cohen's lawyers argued to the appeals court that WSE's activities were legal under a "safe-harbor" provision of federal law that allows transmissions if they are limited to mere information that assists in the placing of bets as opposed to facilitating the bets themselves.
They argued that the transmissions between WSE and its customers contained only information that enabled WSE itself to place bets from customer accounts located in Antigua.
However, the appeals court said the safe-harbor provision cannot be applied to transmission of betting information to a jurisdiction in which betting is illegal.
"There can be no dispute that betting is illegal in New York," said the appeals court.
Prosecutors alleged Cohen and other defendants tried to skirt U.S. law by running their operations from jurisdictions that allow gambling, such as Curacao, Panama, the Dominican Republic, Antigua and Costa Rica.
According to evidence presented at the two-week trial, Cohen's company solicited Americans through the Internet site Sex.com and through a toll-free telephone number.
Prosecutors said Cohen's business also advertised in U.S. newspapers and magazines. The ads said U.S. customers could open a betting account with the company, wire money to fund the account, and then bet on U.S. sporting events and contests.
Prosecutors said undercover FBI agents accessed the Internet sites and found information about betting on professional and college sporting events including basketball, hockey, baseball, and football games.
The undercover agents then opened accounts by transferring money via Western Union and placed wagers on the games from computers and telephones in New York.
Follow Ups:
Shannon71
Web gambling conviction upheld
By Reuters
July 31, 2001, 3:00 p.m. PT
NEW YORK--A federal appeals court on Tuesday upheld one of the first convictions of a defendant charged with running an illegal offshore Internet sports-gambling operation.
The U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed last year's conviction of Jay Cohen, co-owner of World Sports Exchange (WSE), based on the Caribbean island of Antigua. Cohen, who was sentenced to 21 months in prison and fined $5,000, has remained on bail pending the outcome of the appeal.
A Manhattan federal jury found Cohen guilty of operating a sports-betting business that illegally accepted bets and wagers on sporting events from Americans over the Internet and by telephone. Prosecutors said Cohen started his bookmaking e-business in 1996, and by 1998 it had received 60,000 phone calls from U.S. customers, including 6,100 from New York.
Cohen, originally from Long Island, was one of the first defendants to stand trial in Manhattan in a series of offshore Internet sports-gambling cases brought under the federal Wire Wager Act. Prosecutors said they believe his jury conviction was among the first for online offshore sports betting.
Under the Wire Wager law, it is illegal to use telephone lines in interstate or foreign commerce to place bets on sporting events. It also outlaws transmission of information that helps gamblers bet on sporting events and contests.
Cohen's lawyers argued to the appeals court that WSE's activities were legal under a "safe-harbor" provision of federal law that allows transmissions if they are limited to mere information that assists in the placing of bets as opposed to facilitating the bets themselves.
They argued that the transmissions between WSE and its customers contained only information that enabled WSE itself to place bets from customer accounts located in Antigua.
However, the appeals court said the safe-harbor provision cannot be applied to transmission of betting information to a jurisdiction in which betting is illegal.
"There can be no dispute that betting is illegal in New York," said the appeals court.
Prosecutors alleged Cohen and other defendants tried to skirt U.S. law by running their operations from jurisdictions that allow gambling, such as Curacao, Panama, the Dominican Republic, Antigua and Costa Rica.
According to evidence presented at the two-week trial, Cohen's company solicited Americans through the Internet site Sex.com and through a toll-free telephone number.
Prosecutors said Cohen's business also advertised in U.S. newspapers and magazines. The ads said U.S. customers could open a betting account with the company, wire money to fund the account, and then bet on U.S. sporting events and contests.
Prosecutors said undercover FBI agents accessed the Internet sites and found information about betting on professional and college sporting events including basketball, hockey, baseball, and football games.
The undercover agents then opened accounts by transferring money via Western Union and placed wagers on the games from computers and telephones in New York.
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