Online Gambling Here to Stay According to Analysts

An estimated twenty three million people around the world are logging on to online casino websites, betting real money on everything from online casino games to the World Cup or how long a celebrity couple will stay married.

The online gambling industry, which topped $12 billion in revenue last year, is growing so fast that the gambling law is struggling to keep up. More than a decade after the first online casino opened, legislators around the world are still trying to figure out how to regulate an industry that pays little respect to international borders. But election-year politics in the United States have placed online gambling at the top of the political deck. Stopping online gambling is one of the 10 items listed, alongside tax cuts and a flag burning amendment, on the "American Values Agenda" Republicans rolled out earlier this year.

"Internet gambling is the most dangerous form of gambling ever created," said David Robertson, president of the National Coalition Against Legalized Gambling, one of several powerful lobbying groups backing the conservative agenda. "It's like putting a virtual casino in everyone's home."

It might be too late to corral Internet gambling. There are now more than 2,000 online gambling sites worldwide, many of them based in tiny countries known for a laissez faire attitude toward gambling, such as Antigua and Gibraltar. Next year, the United Kingdom is scheduled to become the first major industrialized country to allow gambling Web sites. More than a third of Internet gamblers are Americans, according to research cited by the American Gaming Association.

"The fact is people are gambling online, and they're going to continue to do it," said Holly Thomsen, a spokeswoman for the association. "What the U.S. needs to do is find a way to deal with it."

In the United States, the debate begins with the simple question: Is online gambling legal?

Under the Clinton and current Bush administrations, the agency has argued that Internet gaming is illegal under a 1961 law that prohibits gambling over the "wires", although it has been reluctant to test its theory in court.

That's because judges, perhaps, have issued differing opinions on Internet gambling. The most significant finding so far came in 2002 from the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, which ruled that it's only against the law to bet on sports over the Internet. Casino games are fine, the court said.

The matter is further complicated by the World Trade Organization, which insists that U.S. gambling policies adhere to international trade agreements.

"Basically, it's a mess," said Martin D. Owens, a Sacramento attorney, who is an authority on online gambling law.

Owens offered an example to illustrate his point: "Say we got an online poker room and one guy is from Australia, one is from New York, one is from California and the server is in Antigua. Now, who has jurisdiction? I haven't gotten a straight answer to that in five years," said Owens.

The complexity has forced anti-gambling interests in Washington to alter their tactics. They once focused on passing an outright ban. Instead, they're now going after the financing. A bill introduced this year by Rep. Jim Leach, R-Iowa, would outlaw the use of U.S.-based bank checks or credit cards to pay off gambling debts, potentially a big blow to the industry since online gambling sites rely almost exclusively on credit cards for payment.

Robertson, the gambling opponent, said Leach's bill is a step in the right direction, but doesn't go as far as he'd like. For example, he said, the bill excludes the politically powerful horse-racing industry, which profits mightily from legal U.S.-based sites like youbet.com.

Owens, the lawyer, acknowledged that Internet gambling poses risks. But he said it's hypocritical to single out one style of play.

July 10, 2006
Posted By Terry Goodwin
Staff Editor, CasinoGamblingWeb.com    Previous Page | Internet Gambling | Top Online Casinos | Submit News!