Internet gambling is gambling on, or by means of, the Internet. It encompasses placing a bet online with a bookie, betting shop, or other gambling enterprise. It also encompasses wagering on a game played online. A few states ban Internet gambling per se. Most states, however, rely upon their generally applicable gambling laws. Gambling outlawed when conducted in person is ordinarily outlawed when conducted online. There are many federal gambling laws, most enacted to prevent unwelcome intrusions of interstate or international gambling into states where the activity in question has been outlawed. This is examination of principal federal criminal laws implicated by Internet gambling and of a few of the constitutional questions associated with their application. In very general terms, it is a federal crime (1) to use wire communications to place or receive bets or to transmit gambling information relating to sporting contests or events; (2) to conduct a gambling business in violation of state law; (3) to travel interstate or overseas, or to use any other facility of interstate or foreign commerce, to facilitate the operation of an illegal gambling business; (4) to conduct a gambling business and accept payment for illegal Internet gambling participation; (5) to systematically commit these crimes in order to acquire or operate a commercial enterprise; (6) to launder the proceeds of an illegal gambling business or to plow them back into the business; (7) to spend or deposit more than $10,000 of the proceeds of illegal gambling in any manner; or (8) to conspire with others, or to aid and abet them, in their violation of any of these federal laws. Commentators most often mention the Wire Act when discussing federal criminal laws that outlaw Internet gambling in one form or another. Early federal prosecutions of Internet gambling generally charged violations of the Wire Act. In fact, Cohen , perhaps the most widely known of federal Internet gambling prosecutions, involved the Wire Act conviction, upheld on appeal, of the operator of an offshore, online sports book. The courts have said that in order to prove a Wire Act violation, "the government must show that (1) 'the defendant regularly devoted time, attention and labor to betting or wagering for profit,' (2) the defendant used a wire communication facility: (a) to place bets or wagers on any sporting event or contest; or (b) to provide information to assist with the placing of bets or wagers on any sporting event or contest; or (c) to inform someone that he or she had won a bet or wager and was entitled to payment or credit, and (3) the transmission was made from one state to another state or foreign country." Offenders are subject to imprisonment for not more than two years and/or a fine of the greater of not more than twice the gain or loss associated with the offense or $250,000 (not more than $500,000 for organizations).They may also have their telephone service canceled at law enforcement request, and conduct that violates the Wire Act may help provide the basis for a prosecution under the money laundering statutes, the Travel Act, the Illegal Gambling Business Act, RICO, or the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. The Wire Act is addressed to those "engaged in the business of betting or wagering" and therefore apparently cannot be used to prosecute simple bettors. The government must prove that the defendant was aware of the fact he was using a wire facility to transmit a bet or gambling-related information; it need not prove that he knew that such use was unlawful. The courts have also rejected the contention that the prohibition applies only to those who transmit, concluding that "use for transmission" embraces both those who send and those who receive the transmission. As a practical matter, the Justice Department appears to have resolved the question of whether the section applies only to cases involving gambling on sporting events. The vast majority of prosecutions involve sports gambling, but cases involving other forms of gambling under the Wire Act are not unknown. One federal appellate panel concluded that the Wire Act applies only to sports gambling. A subsequent district court concluded that it applies to non-sports gambling as well. The Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, however, ultimately opined that "interstate transmissions of wire communications that do not relate to a 'sporting event or contest,' fall outside the reach of the Wire Act." An accomplice who aids and abets another in the commission of a federal crime may be treated as if he had committed the crime himself. The classic definition from Nye & Nissen explains that liability for aiding and abetting attaches when one "in some sort associates himself with the venture, participates in it as in something that he wishes to bring about, [and] seeks by his action to make it succeed." The Department of Justice advised the National Association of Broadcasters that its members risked prosecution for aiding and abetting when they provided advertising for the online gambling operations. In addition to such accomplice liability, a conspirator who contrives with another for the commission of a federal crime is likewise liable for conspiracy, any completed underlying crime, and for any additional, foreseeable offense committed by a confederate in furtherance of the common scheme. A complication in construction of the Wire Act arises in the context of horse racing. There are some suggestions that the Wire Act was amended sub silentio by an appropriations rider rewording a provision in the civil Interstate Horseracing Act. The Justice Department does not share this view. Uncertainty over the issue apparently led an Appellate Body of the World Trade Organization (WTO) to conclude that the United States permits domestic entities to offer Internet gambling on horse racing, but denies offshore entities such an opportunity. Section 1955, which outlaws conducting an illegal gambling business, appears on its face to reach any illegal gambling business conducted using the Internet. Commentators seem to concur. However, prosecutions under the Wire Act have been more prevalent, at least thus far. Violations of Section 1955 are punishable by imprisonment for not more than five years and/or fines of the greater of not more than twice the gain or loss associated with the offense or $250,000 ($500,000 for an organization). Moreover, the federal government may confiscate any money or other property used in violation of the section. The offense may also provide the foundation for a prosecution under the Travel Act, the money laundering statutes, and RICO. The courts have said that to prove a violation of the Illegal Gambling Business Act, "the government must show that the defendant conducted, financed, managed, supervised, directed, or owned a gambling business that: (1) violated state law; (2) involved five or more persons; and (3) was either in substantial continuous operation for more than 30 days or had gross revenue of $2,000 or more in a single day"). And they have noted that "numerous cases have recognized that 18 U.S.C. 1955 proscribes any degree of participation in an illegal gambling business except participation as a mere bettor." Or as more recently described, "'[c]onductors' extends to those on lower echelons, but with a function at their level necessary to the illegal gambling operation." The section bars only those activities that involve illegal gambling under applicable state law and that meet the statutory definition of such a business. Illegal gambling is at the threshold of any prosecution under the section, and cannot to be pursued if the underlying state law is unenforceable under either the United States Constitution, or the operative state constitution. The business element can be satisfied (for any endeavor involving five or more participants) either by continuity ("has been or remains in substantially continuous operation for period in excess of thirty days") or by volume ("has a gross revenue of $2,000 in any single day"). The volume prong is fairly self-explanatory, and the courts have been fairly generous in their assessment of continuity. They are divided, however, on the question of whether the jurisdictional five individuals and continuity/volume features must coincide. The accomplice and conspiratorial provisions attend violations of Section 1955 as they do violations of the Wire Act. Although frequently difficult to distinguish in a given case, the difference is essentially a matter of depth of involvement. "[T]o be guilty of aiding and abetting a Section 1955 illegal gambling business ... the defendant must have knowledge of the general scope and nature of the illegal gambling business and awareness of the general facts concerning the venture ... [and he] must take action which materially assists in 'conducting, financing, managing, supervising, directing or owning' the business for the purpose of making the business succeed." Unlike conspiracy, one may only be prosecuted for aiding and abetting the commission of a completed crime; "before a defendant can be found guilty of aiding and abetting a violation of Section 1955 a violation of Section 1955 must exist ... [and] aiders and abettors cannot be counted as one of the statutorily required five persons." As a general rule, a federal conspiracy exists when two or more individuals agree to commit a federal crime and one of them commits some overt act in furtherance of their common scheme. "A conspiracy may exist even if a conspirator does not agree to commit or facilitate each and every part of the substantive offense. The partners in the criminal plan must agree to pursue the same criminal objective and may divide up the work, yet each is responsible for acts of each other. If the conspirators have a plan which calls for some conspirators to perpetrate the crime and others to provide support, the supporters are as guilty as the perpetrators." Conspiracy is a separate crime and thus conspirators may be convicted of both substantive violations of Section 1955 and conspiracy to commit those violations.