It's been over a year since the U.S. government's Internet gambling prohibition legislation, and yet online gambling persists in America. Numerous online gambling sites have decided to operate despite the legislation's implementation and, for a couple of them, it's likely been a windfall of profits.

Why? Well the U.S. government got rid of the competition. For years, prior to the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), when people asked me if online gambling was legal, I would say it's a gray area.

"Gray area" means exactly that. It wasn't meant to say that it's illegal or even morally wrong, or whatever negative description one may want to use. Then again, it wasn't to say that it was activity wholly endorsed by our government. Prior to UIGEA, I'd say online gambling was a gray area, but shaded white; now I'd say it's a gray area, but shaded dark.

Some major poker sites that have continued to operate and accept U.S. clients are Poker Stars, Ultimate Bet, Bodog, Full Tilt and Absolute Poker. Prior to UIGEA, Party Poker was the clear leader in terms of numbers of players, total revenues, net profit, and any other significant category. Afterward, since Party Poker was publicly traded and therefore decided to leave the U.S. market to meet the strict regulatory guidelines of the London Stock Exchange, all the aforementioned sites grew significantly, with Poker Stars taking the top spot worldwide.

What the UIGEA has clearly done is make it more difficult to deposit and to withdraw from these sites. People used to have difficulty in depositing before, but now it can be a real challenge. Some sports books also have continued to operate with U.S. players including WSEX, Matchbook, The Greek, BookMaker.com (affiliated with the offshore giant BetCRIS) and SportsBook.com. Bodog still operates a full spectrum of gambling options including poker, sports betting, and a casino with blackjack, craps, video poker, and all the other casino games you'd expect.

Why do I mention these sites? Because some of you may still want to gamble online and these sites will still take your business. Note that there are state laws and federal laws and barriers to depositing, but I'm certain that there are still a couple million Americans gambling online. All you have to do is log onto a poker site and see all the chat in English, or take a look at a few online forums like LVASPORTS.com, TWOPLUSTWO.com, THERX.com and EOG.com where online gamblers post. You can be quite certain that many are people within our borders, anonymous as they may be. So check the laws in your jurisdiction. If it's OK for you to gamble online, those are some places you can go.

BodogLife.com: Bodog had a massive U.S. marketing campaign for many years. Its ads were ubiquitous in U.S. media, as mainstream as Esquire magazine and as audacious as a billboard outside McCarran Airport in Las Vegas. A company that appears to look for patent-infringement situations, called 1st Technology, sued Bodog for nearly $50 million for a violation of a patent they have for an electronic betting system. Bodog, being outside the U.S. and in a quasi-legal operating status in our country, did not have representation to defend itself in court.

Result: The Superior Court of King County, Washington ruled against Bodog and it lost its extremely valuable domain name www.Bodog.com. I don't think it'd be a stretch to say that Bodog has spent over $100 million marketing that domain name. As a result, if you want to play at Bodog, you have to go to BodogLife.com now.

Absolute Poker: A number of players on the bustling poker forums at TWOPLUSTWO.com felt that they may have been cheated at Absolute Poker. They claimed to have strong evidence that opponents in their game were able to see their and other players' hole cards. This would give the cheating players an enormous advantage. As the story broke, more and more information was gathered, and it appears that there was a security breach.

Absolute has now admitted to its system being compromised, and is in the process of investigating and providing restitution to players. Stay tuned to Internet poker forums and online-gambling news organizations for more information. One thing I'm sure of is that the outcome of this situation will be good for all online players because online poker will only be made more secure after this.

SportsBook.com: A number of online gamblers who had accounts at SportsBook.com logged in to find their accounts, which previously had several thousand dollars, down to zero balances. They then received emails from SportsBook.com support, saying that they had made bets that were those of a professional bettor and SportsBook.com did not cater to professional players, therefore their accounts were being seized by the book.

The crime? Making correlated parlay bets. An example in a college football game would be betting a favorite -40 points parlayed with the over 51 total points. If a team does cover a 40 point spread, it's quite likely that the total points in the game will be over 50 as well. Parlaying the bets gives the player a big edge. Probably a lot of players made a lot of money betting these parlays at SportsBook.com over several years, but the ones who still had money in there in October 2007 got zapped.

I have no problem with a book banning a player it doesn't want as long as they pay the balance and honor all legitimately made pending bets. Zeroing out an account because a player made a correlated parlay that their software allowed is thievery. Their software should have made the bet impossible to begin with, or the bet should have been canceled before the game kickoff.

Barney Frank and Other Federal Legislation: Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) has introduced legislation to partially repeal the UIGEA. There are other pending bills to permit online gambling in one fashion or another.

My opinion hasn't changed on these. It's nice to have the support for Internet gambling in Congress, but it isn't going to actually get passed. It certainly won't under our current administration. It's an issue that has very passionate (and well-financed) opponents, but few passionate proponents.

ClubUBT.com: This is probably the best thing going right now for people who want to engage in poker games and blackjack tournaments online for entertainment. I'm impressed with what they're doing right now. Their customer support appears to be speedy and responsive to constructive criticism about improvements. ClubUBT gives you the chance to play these games online against other players for $19.95 a month and you can win cash and prizes.

Clearly ClubUBT is affiliated with the UBT, of which I'm the first-year champion, but I'm not biased in my review. I think that ClubUBT is trying hard to provide a thoroughly enjoyable system for online gaming between players within the permissions of our government. ClubUBT is clearly legal and subscribing is as simple as using your own credit card (not a prepaid card or otherwise dubious purchasing option). I'd say that if you're interested in gambling online for entertainment, this is likely your best bet in today's atmosphere.

If you have any questions, concerns, or comments about online gambling in today's environment, please email me at david123matthews@yahoo.com and I'll try to answer your questions.

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