Hi,
I have a customer that wants to put up a site about online poker, with, i suppose, links to poker sites. I was therefore wondering if anyone has any idea of whether or not this is legal. I rent server space in Virginia, US, but my company is registered in Sweden, and the customer is also from here. There won't be any gambling on the site itself.

I have e-mailed the customer, and he says that all content is perfectly legal, but I don't feel really sure about it.

As far as US law is concerned, gambling over 'wire' is illigal. I can't imagine there's anything wrong with linking to places where this can be done...

Would there be any risk in this for me as a webhost do you think? Or is the responsibility for site content the site owners? Sorry about asking all these questions, but since I am not from the US I have no idea about the laws that regulate this there.

Well, firstly, you're not doing anything wrong and neither is your client.

Secondly, assuming you or your client was doing something wrong in the first place, you'd likely be served with a cease and desist order prior to any suits being filed against you... That said, since you're in sweden, any law agency is likely to send this C&D order to your datacenter, and then they can do whatever they want. Depending on who you host with, they may just disconnect you outright... That said, nothing illigal is happening here to the best of my knowledge, so I wouldn't worry...

You might check out: http://www.gpwa.net/ and http://www.igcouncil.org/

Thank you for the links. I can't say that I became much wiser about the legal rules regarding links to gambling sites, but it was a good try. :cool:

Why not ask the datacenter if it is likely to be a problem?

Explain the situation, you are based in Sweeden and understand that servers are based in the US. What is there view of the situation? Assuming you are not doing anything illegal they should be able to tell you what there policy is, guidelines and what you can and can not do (Although this is probably documented in your TOS with them).

Well, I have asked, and haven't gotten a good response yet. The first person I wrote to didn't think that it would be a problem, but recommended me to talk to the administration. They haven't responded so far.

it wont be a problem..

the person is marketing a poker sites that is 100% legal

are link sites for gambling ok in the usa?;)

Originally posted by jogu6767
Thank you for the links. I can't say that I became much wiser about the legal rules regarding links to gambling sites, but it was a good try. :cool:
Anytime - they do have some forums over there that you might be able to get some more definitive answers.

I would have to say (for the most part) - the links would be OK. One thing to consider though is if your site is using a MAP or an IPSP. These companies might actually say no to that or possibly pull your account for linking to these sites. The reason might be because the MAP or IPSP is afraid you are doing some type of gambling on that site which is high risk.

I have asked now, and it seemed ok with my server providor. Thanks for all the answers...