It is not illegal for a U.S. citizen to place a wager on the Internet. Gamblers can bet on horses, poker, casino games and sporting events provided they get around the hurdles setup by the federal government.

Still don't believe it? Judge Catherine Hanaway of the U.S. Department of Justice confirmed it on Nov. 13 during a House Judiciary Committee meeting on Internet gambling.

But that doesn't mean the U.S. government isn't going to continue to make it difficult.

The government has laws in place that prevent players from transferring money to online gaming companies, but it's very much a hole-in-the-dike legislation. For every company that gets blocked from making money transfers, another one is quick to sprout up.

Any player with a desire to wager online can set up an account and make their first bet within 10 minutes. It's not a difficult process.

Some sites are direct bank account transfers, even though that was technically supposed to be elimated. Online companies are now bringing in middleman businesses that accept the transfer and move it into the gambling sites.

Other sites will allow direct deposits through prepaid credit cards such as a Visa or MasterCard. The feds blocked individual credit card transactions in 2002 with the emergence of an online sports gambling boom, but there's no traceability to prepaid cards.

Know anybody in Canada?

It might help. Only a select few countries join the U.S. in blocking transactions — mostly in the Middle East where gambling is forbidden by Muslim law — but Canada is particularly friendly toward transactions.

A U.S. player with a buddy in Canada can simply mail a check, and have the friend directly load up an account.
Snail mail is another option. Nearly all Internet gambling sites will take a check. The only obstacle is that the player may have to wait anywhere from one to two weeks for the money to show up in the established account.

Chuck Blount | 210SA Contributor