Legal issues by making money on poker in the USA?

[timothyb]

I'm very new to poker affiliate programs (Was referred to this site by a friend), but I'm not knew to building websites, blogs, driving traffic etc.

Basically the only reason why I'm getting into poker affiliate programs / trying to learn the ins and outs is because I have a very unique site idea, yet I know the only way to make money with poker oriented websites is through affiliate programs.

So anyway... my question is how do I deal with any possible legal issues of accepting money made off of poker affiliates while living in the USA? Can I just report the income through my USA located business (an LLC) like any other payment?

[Lenny]

Yes, you are selling advertising to the companies. There is nothing illegal about being an affiliate. You provide advertising for the rooms and get paid for the advertising you provide.

[PTC]

Yes, you are selling advertising to the companies. There is nothing illegal about being an affiliate. You provide advertising for the rooms and get paid for the advertising you provide.

Revenue share is just that... You are sharing in the revenue from a gambling operation. If your government considers these gambling operations to be illegal and you are sharing in the profits, this is generally frowned upon. No affiliates in the US have ever been hassled to my knowledge. There is enough grey area that a few hundred dollars will get you a lawyer who will tell you what you want to hear. As you can see by my flag, I clearly don't care, but I don't take the cpa or mgr deals anymore either, I sell as lenny implies above; just straight advertising.

[PokerSoftwareGuy]

I know of sites, like Gambling911.com that received those threat letters from the Justice Department. Other that that, no, never heard any getting into legal trouble directly.

However, in the US law you have 'aiding and abetting' as a legal principle, which would possibly mean that you are knowingly assisting in a felony.

That be a stretch though. I don't think there's any real worries for you.

[bonusbeast]

As the others said, I have never heard of an affiliate punished, but gambling laws seem to be very unclear for US citizens. There are millions of american citizens that wager online, is it just the banks are not allowed to do transactions or are the players not allow to wager either? The whole online gambling act is very unclear.