Every four years we get the lame ducks, a lame duck president and congress. With Trump getting plenty of media attention not many people are paying attention to what the congress is doing. This time around among some possible presidental pardons that will go out the door before Obama hands over the keys to the white house. The Congress is having a look at the wire act.

The new bill is called the Restoration of America’s Wire Act,will make it illegal to process payments from online gambling sites. It also adds a few things including:

Amends provisions of the federal criminal code, commonly known as the Wire Act, to provide that the prohibition against using a wire communication facility for the transmission of bets or wagers, wagering information, or wagering proceeds shall: (1) apply to any bet or wager (currently, to bets or wagers on any sporting event or contest); and (2) include any transmission over the Internet carried interstate or in foreign commerce.



Would this ban fantasy sports? Clearly wagers on a sporting event is passed? are clearly stated but it is unclear if this would start making it hard to get funds in and out of fantasy sports and if this would be a federal law that would ban online betting in states that allow it.



The obvious way to get around all this is bitcoin. There can also be issues with on and off ramps oftoo. Recently the IRS asked Coinbase for a lot of information on it´s users, and Coinbase has closed tons of accounts due to suspicion of sports betting. Circle another USD to Bitcoin on and off ramp has stopped all bitcoin business. Does this mean bitcoin is no longer an option if the new wire act is passed? No, there are still many ways to buy or sell bitcoin for USD including localbitcoins or buying things with bitcoin at a discount at places like purse.io

Will the lame duck congress pass this new wire act when everyone has election hangover? What will this mean for the future of online gambling? Let us know in the forum and in the sports betting telegram chat.

