Hello i have a question regarding this issue as it is a very BIG ONE.
Is it legal for players in the USA to gamble using bitcoin, by this i mean
gambling in the form of casinos, lotteries, sports etc.
I would like to know
The federal Wire Act is often interpreted as covering specifically sportsbooks, regardless of the currency or other considerations. It is thought that it does not cover other forms of gambling.
The other well-known federal act covering gambling is the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. Its most well-known provisions prohibit the use of financial institutions to process payments for an undefined activity, unlawful Internet gambling. Despite the fact there is no clear prohibition against games such as poker and a lack of any federal law directly targeting online gambling, the feds have shut down the U.S. activities of Internet poker sites and even indicted the principals of corporations spreading raked poker games.
There is no clear law at the federal level outlawing Internet gambling, though it seems sportsbooks are unambiguously prohibited at least under the prevailing interpretations of existing laws such as the Wire Act.
Some people stop there and simply assume that means Internet gambling is legal, but that's making a huge mistake, because the vast majority of law enforcement activity in the United States occurs at the state level, and state laws on gambling, Internet or otherwise, are a crazy quilt of contradictory laws. Any online site offering wagering of any sort risks violating the laws of any state where it takes customers, and state prisons can keep you just as locked up as federal prisons.
If you mean is it legal for YOU to gamble online? Maybe not, but I've never heard of anyone (even in police raids of underground poker rooms) getting arrested for PLAYING a game of chance. You do risk losing any money you deposit at a site, but you're already risking that. I personally don't worry about being prosecuted for gambling online, but your tolerance for risk may vary.
