Originally Posted by sperbonzo

Actually, it was really initiated by the state department. I was involved when gaming was still legal, and I was around for some highish-level discussions with the major players. The government's stance was that it was too easy of a way to transfer funds without oversight.

Say for example you wanted to get a large amount from your group in the middle east, to another group inside the US. Using wires, western union, etc... is too carefully watched. Instead you set up a gaming site, rig it so that someone loses a million dollars in Egypt say, and someone in the US wins a million. Now the money has been transferred without proper oversight (according the the government guys that were speaking to us)

I'm not saying that I agree with the government on this, but the control of international funds transfers was the biggest reason why this went through, nothing to do with the religious right.


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