Gambling, with the exception of state funded lotteries, is prohibited in the U.S. It’s one of the things cartels like the NFL have pressured the government into implementing.
Now, most people gambled anyway, but then back in ‘06 they passed a law basically giving the government full unfettered access to credit card company records and banning them from handling transactions involving overseas gambling (most of the betting sites are handled either from Costa Rica or the Caribbean).
That’s the new way of controlling policy: instead of passing a law you can’t enforce, pass a law against the credit card companies preventing them from processing transactions regarding the item you want to ban. It’s a lot easier that way.
Scary stuff, isn’t it?
As a Brit with the betting shop part and parcel of our culture it does amaze me and think surely this makes betting go more underground rather than having licensed betting shops.
Virtually every top professional soccer ground has a betting office at the ground where you can place a bet on the game, who will score the first goal etc etc. You can of course bet on anything else as it is a Ladbroke's outlet as well but they advertise it for the game you are watching.