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When should our sites be shut down by to protect us from arrests?
I see most CAP affiliate sites are still up.
Bet22 wrote:When should our sites be shut down by to protect us from arrests?I see most CAP affiliate sites are still up.
If your in the US which i persume you are then it really is a personal decision but the bill becomes law when mr bush signs it which is expected within the next 2 weeks.
Bet22,
Legally, when Bush-league signs the bill, which is supposed to be as early as tomorrow (Wednesday), we will be breaking the law at that point.
My personal plans are as follows:
– When bill is signed, I will remove all my affiliate links to gambling sites,
will remove references to any bonuses, and remove references to methods
of payments that my affiliate sites participated in. Additionally, on
requisite pages, I am putting a Legal Disclaimer stating that all links to
outside gambling sites have been removed as per new U.S. legislation.– I am leaving my site up and running, intact otherwise. I do not want to
lose my places in the SERPs, in the event that there is a legal recourse
for me to re-enable my affiliate links at some point. If they were ever
to come after me at this point, it becomes a Freedom of Speech
and censorship issue.– I have backup copies of all my effected (changed) web pages, so that
in the event something happens (miracles do happen), I can easily
re-enable these pages.Obviously, what each of us plans to do is a personal choice. That is my plan for now.
You all forgot to add 270 days after Bush signs it.
No Bleuze, law goes into effect upon signing of the bill, which is imminent.
dhayman wrote:Bet22,Legally, when Bush-league signs the bill, which is supposed to be as early as tomorrow (Wednesday), we will be breaking the law at that point.
My personal plans are as follows:
– When bill is signed, I will remove all my affiliate links to gambling sites,
will remove references to any bonuses, and remove references to methods
of payments that my affiliate sites participated in. Additionally, on
requisite pages, I am putting a Legal Disclaimer stating that all links to
outside gambling sites have been removed as per new U.S. legislation.– I am leaving my site up and running, intact otherwise. I do not want to
lose my places in the SERPs, in the event that there is a legal recourse
for me to re-enable my affiliate links at some point. If they were ever
to come after me at this point, it becomes a Freedom of Speech
and censorship issue.– I have backup copies of all my effected (changed) web pages, so that
in the event something happens (miracles do happen), I can easily
re-enable these pages.Obviously, what each of us plans to do is a personal choice. That is my plan for now.
thats about what I was thinking, for the short time. I have several poker sites that only have google ads on them and no affiliate links already, I assume they will be fine. (althought the earnings will no dobt dry up as there will be no more poker related google ads…)
My main site is CardCritic.com, I am thinking to changing it to a credit card site, but I am not sure.
Personally I think you can keep your affiliate links up, because the casinos don’t accept US players anyways. I can’t see any wrongdoing in sending a visitor to a gambling site where he/she can’t gamble.
Just make sure you take the links to the 1 or 2 casinos down that are left and actually do accept US players.
With keeping the links up, at least you could make a few bucks from non US traffic if you have any.
Interesting point.. My plan was the same as dhayman’s but your point does make me wonder..
~LadyH
Longer term, that’s what I would like to do – keep the sites up and only refer to non US accepting sites. Problem is, probably one of my favorite poker affiliate programs is still going to accept US players (for now) and I really wish these programs could come up with a way to ‘steal’ my US players so I am not legally liable. I probably still wouldn’t take the chance though that the goofs in the government agencies here would see it that way. They would probably say, well the site accepts US players and you have a link…
If the bill gets signed quickly, as in tomorrow, I will probably pull all of the affiliate links until it gets sorted out who is accepting US and not. Too much up in the air right now. A site could even say we are no longer accepting US and some technical glitch allows some to slip through. Try explaining that to law enforcement.
To each his own, but I’m not comfortable playing around with offshore options.
In the meantime, while trying to squeak out what I can of the non US market, I am going to go into a bunch of different bland niche markets – cookies or something, that doesn’t attract the heated attention of the scammers in this world/political or not. Really had it up to here with all of them. I just want to be able to pay the bills until the people that run this country get their ducks in a row and are primed to benefit from this profitable business. They might even let some of us make a little too again.
I market worldwide, and have more foreign players than American. Most affiliates display disclaimers that it is illegal for under-age persons to gamble, is it not legal to add an additional disclaimer for all U.S. residents? Will it be illegal for U.S. affiliates to maintain a website that does not target Americans?
Will it be illegal for U.S. affiliates to maintain a website that does not target Americans?
– that’s the $10,000 question right now.
JackpotMountain wrote:I market worldwide, and have more foreign players than American. Most affiliates display disclaimers that it is illegal for under-age persons to gamble, is it not legal to add an additional disclaimer for all U.S. residents? Will it be illegal for U.S. affiliates to maintain a website that does not target Americans?Good question, but I certainly don’t want to be made the test case. I will disable all my links, watch what the big-boy affiliate portals are doing, watch the news, keep my eyes tuned to CAP (I hope it keeps going !), and work diligently on my next business ventures.
Oh yeah, I’m going to rejoice and throw a big party, when the Democrats take over the House after the November elections…..
I don’t think anybody is really clear on this law right now and probably won’t be for some time.
http://www.pokerplayernewspaper.com/viewarticle.php?id=1481
“D. Many sites use what are called affiliates. Persons who are affiliates and live inside the US will now be subject to arrest and prosecution, particularly those who do not block financial transactions from the US.”
The article above sounds about right to me. It probably is going to depend on how much each individual can stomach as far as risk goes.
I’m not a risking type much anymore when it comes to this – probably because I live in the US and have watched the debacle unfold before my eyes. These people feel they can do anything they wish. I live in the state of Ohio, US, which is run by the bible thumping/corporate welfare party at every level of state government. Until at least that changes, I can’t take a chance on some Attorney General deciding it would be politically expedient to come out strong against online gambling and using a few individuals as an example. Ditto for the federal level. Don’t mean to get political, but it is a fact of life now that has to be taken into consideration.
I am not comfortable with disclaimers telling possible US players to go away as an effective legal defense. The whole gist of the law imo is to shut down access from the players to the gaming sites. The money angle is the one that has been talked about the most. I think they will see links as aiding and abetting. The following is from a law professor:
“The greatest danger here would seem to be with affiliates. Any American operator can be easily grabbed. This includes sites that don’t directly take bets, but do refer visitors to gaming sites. If the affiliate is paid for those referrals by receiving a share of the money wagered or lost, it would not be difficult to charge the affiliate with violating this law, under the theory of aiding and abetting. Being a knowing accomplice and sharing in the proceeds of a crime make the aider and abettor guilty of the crime itself. The federal government could also charge the affiliate with conspiracy to violate this new Act.”
Hey im in Ohio too, Boy are they gonna be pissed when i stop sending them 8% state tax every quarter
Anyway the las is very open in its writing, no doubt theyplan to introduce further laws based on this door stopper nonsense. With an OJ lawyer you can get away with bus as usual, get a judje on the fed level on the take your toast.
at least i dont have to pay any of these quarterlys anymore, im sure ill get a phonecall for that too.
