by Devon Chappell, News Staff Writer

October 30, 2009

If you want to cut right to chase, don't gamble at Golden Casino if you reside in Canada or the U.S. States of Kentucky, Oregon, Missouri, Maryland or Louisiana. Take a look at RTG Casinos instead. That said, here's the latest news on the U.S. War on Terrorism...oops, I mean online gambling.

While progress to liberalize online gambling in the U.S. appears to be taking place on the federal level, i.e. the Safe and Secure Internet Gambling initiative, certain individual State laws and authorities would seem to have that progress set back. Case in point is the drama that Louisiana State Police is stirring up, now proving to affect more than Louisiana residents, and actually doing more damage than good.

The latest attempt by Louisiana State Police to shut down online casinos consists of using undercover police officers to open real money accounts, ultimately requesting for withdrawals, thereby allowing officials to find money trails and shut down the corresponding bank accounts - of course, after seizing the funds in said bank accounts. Evidently, it's working too. A recent warrant was issued to allow the seizure of a bank account owned by Atrium Financial Group. According to the warrant issued by US District Judge, Beth Gesner, there was $365,000 in the account - all said to be used for payments of winnings to U.S. online casino account holders.

In the meantime, however, players owed money are left high and dry, for nothing is being done by Louisiana officials to reimburse players. This, in turn, is affecting players from other State's, who otherwise are not breaking any State laws. In other words, the funds seized are not just used to pay out Louisiana players. This is precisely why some U.S. players have experienced long delays in getting paid out by reputable U.S. facing online casinos. Certain State governments are botching things up.

Understandably, a State such as Louisiana - where anti-online gambling laws are apparently in place - should have the right to enforce such laws. But when such enforcement places residents in more danger than before, attention must be paid to why these laws are really in place. Apparently, they exist to protect residents from the negative connotations associated with gambling, whether online or offline. Never mind the fact that Louisiana has several land-based casinos.

The bottom line is that Louisiana officials are doing more to leave their citizens out to dry than actually protecting them.At this stage in the game, if you're from Louisiana, don't even think about gambling at an online casino. If you happen to make it through the application process (which is unlikely to begin with), your State government will take your money anyways. If you think that's unfair, contact your State representative and express yourself.

Hopefully, all this will serve as a lesson for Golden Casino. Their policy explicitly forbids any citizen from Louisiana to open an account. Even though Louisiana officials besieged Golden Casino with account applications, the majority of which were rejected, one was able to slip through the cracks. It should be clear that online casinos cannot afford to have a single account slip through the cracks anymore. The good news is that while $365,000 is a lot of money, it surely won't put Golden Casino out of business. A fully licensed and insured online casino regulated in Curacao, Golden Casino has processed millions of dollars in transactions, and continues to be one of the most popular destinations for U.S. players today.

And on that note, players from the following U.S. States should also be weary of opening an online gambling account at not only Golden Casino, but all online casinos doing business in the U.S.: Kentucky, Oregon, Missouri, Maryland and Louisiana.

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