Online Casino

Now that the dust has settled on the latest big court case involving an Internet gambling company and a huge cash settlement, the US government have made the unprecedented offer of returning money to US gamblers who believe they are owed by BetOnSports.com. This follows the agreement reached between the US Justice Department and the company's founder, Gary Kaplan who agreed to pay $43.65 million in fines to the US government.

Preparations by the government are underway to allow US BetOnSports.com customers to complete a petition which states why they believe this company owes them money and how much. If their information is confirmed, those customers may be entitled to a refund.

The government of course will not be out of pocket, as they will naturally keep all monies that are not claimed. In addition to this, they will also be obliged to refuse any inaccurate or uncorroborated claims as they see fit.

As the US government is not generally known for giving away monies that they have obtained in this way, there are theories already circulating which call into question their motives for this move. There is speculation that the information gathered from the petitions may be used by the government to investigate bank accounts in an attempt to uncover related online gambling activity by the claimants. With current laws governing online gambling still in turmoil, customers would be wise to review where they are keeping their money.

While the idea that there may be some cloak and dagger operation to trick people into revealing their online gambling activities may sound intriguing, there is no basis in fact to support the speculations. In any case, the risk is not with the customer but on the online gambling companies that continue to operate within the United States illegally targeting its citizens.

To bring its proposal to the public's notice, the government's own website, forfeiture.gov has published a notice which requests that anyone who believes that they may be owed a portion of the seized $43.65 million to file their written petition to stake their claim.