The legality of online gambling in the United States has been a subject of many debates and discussions for many years now. Most states in the country tagged gambling online as illegal. However, punishing players and illegal casinos has always been a difficult task as they're gambling from the safety of their homes and the casinos are virtual realities.

Gambling websites are also prohibited from operating within the United States. This is the primary reason why most offices and servers of these online casinos are located in other countries.

In 2006, the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate passed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 which makes all bank and similar transactions related to online gambling illegal. The Act was signed into law that same year by former President George W. Bush.

The passing of the Act eventually paved the way to the untimely death of the online gambling industry in the country. Gambling giants such as PartyGaming, Bwin, and Cassava Enterprise immediately suspended their real-money gambling in the U.S.

Aside from facing legality issues, Internet gambling was also said to have been exploited by criminal organizations to launder large amounts of money.

In fact, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York in 2011 filed a case against the founders of PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, and Cereus Poker Network for allegedly violating the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act and engaging in bank fraud and money laundering schemes.

Now, with all the problems shrouding online gambling in America, why would a company engaged in headphones invest in a dead market?

Monster to Launch a 'Legal' Online Gambling

On Wednesday, online tech site Digital Trends reported that Monster Cable, the company behind the famous Beats by Dre headphones, is all set to revive online gambling in America. The company was said to have enlisted former telemarketing kingpin Fred Khalilian as its new COO to help turn its plan into reality.

The company's gambling site will be known as PokerTribe.com and will be launched on or before December 15th, 2017.

In an interview with Monster CEO Noel Lee, the executive said:

"The roadmap is unbelievable, fraught with laws, certifications, international law, gaming commissions, all that stuff. Very, very complex. But [Fred] has overcome. He's found his niche, he's worked his way through the government, through the Federal Trade Commission, through all of that, with a strategy that's built around the American Indians."

To be able to open an online gambling business, the company used what they called as an 'exception' in American gambling law: they teamed up with a Native American tribe.

So, how would a Native American tribe help Monster in its plans?

Since Native American tribes are technically sovereign nations, they are therefore allowed by the law to operate gambling facilities under the 1988 Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. Apparently, Indian reservations are not considered U.S. soil, which makes their laws totally different.

Clever.

Khalilian offered his explanation to Digital Trends on why the government passed the law. He said:

"This is what I think happened: The U.S. government sat down and went, 'Oh s***. They're coming. And they're going to take their country back. What do we do?' ... They said, 'They're drug addicts, alcoholics, and gamblers.' They're like, 'You know what? Let's help them out. Maybe they will self-destruct and go away. Let's give them a gambling license, tobacco license, and alcohol license."

The tech site then pointed out how brash, arrogant, charming and anything but politically correct Khalilian is.

"Tribes across the country seized the opportunity to open casinos and tap into the lucrative market that Las Vegas had previously cornered," Khalilian further added.

The Monster COO also said that "he and his team have done their due diligence and have navigated what he says are six national and international tiers of regulation, and are ready to launch PokerTribe.com."

If successfully launched, the legal online gaming portal could potentially add several more billion dollars to Monster's wealth

This article is a reprint from EdgyLabs.  To view the original story and comment, click here.