Gambling for Bitcoins

[AnubisTheJackle]

I'm interested to hear from a gaming lawyer, if one exists out there, who would be able to tell me the legal implications of an internet gambling site, based in the United States, where the sole currency used is Bitcoins. I am by far not a lawyer, but I've read the laws regarding internet gambling, and from my understanding, because the website would not actually pay out a legal tender such as USD, and Bitcoins are not a legal form of currency, it might be a legal form of business. If I'm reading these right, it would only become illegal if I also provided a service on the same site allowing customers to exchange bitcoins for a legal form of currency.

Like I said, I may be wrong, and I would definitely like to know if I'm right, because if so I have a bitcoin casino website ready to go with some very minor tweaks.

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[joshblum87]

Sounds fun.

[AnubisTheJackle]

I think so as well. I have code already in place that I've been polishing up for Blackjack, Roulette, Video Poker and Slots. It's setup to accept a virtual currency that's decided by the site using a currency system I've also developed which is easy to switch different currencies in and out of. That said, basically I'm ready to go just need to know if it's legal, and if it is, i need a website template, and some bitcoin funding for the vault to cover bets.

[Kuusou]

I think right now the only issue is that Bitcoin is not an actual currency. As soon as it obtains that status, the regulations will start up.

As of right now, legally, I'm pretty sure it's no different than any game currency or fake money on a site.

I'm not a lawyer though. It just wouldn't make sense for it to be illegal right now.

[AnubisTheJackle]

Well the grey area is in the wording of the law. One of the laws states that if the gaming coinage (in this case Bitcoins) is able to be converted to legal tender, it is illegal. But I'm 99% sure that was meant like in a regular casino where you can convert your chips to money, if you can do the same on the casino site it's illegal. But like I said, I'm no lawyer, so I'm definitely interested in hearing from one.