Sportsbooks Play Key Role in Offshore Gambling

Some believe baseball is the national pastime. For others, football is the obvious choice. Still others place their vote with NASCAR or even possibly soccer as the most popular sport in the US. Then, there are thoughs who claim betting is America's pastime. Gambling is what really gets this country's juices flowing. The $50 bet is the drug of chice for the masses in the bleachers.

Escalating the war on internet gambling, U.S. prosecutors have busted the chief executive of an Internet site bookmarked by avid sports bettors. David Carruthers was arrested Sunday in the Dallas-Fort Worth airport. His company is BetonSports, which I'm willing to wager has greater name recognition than Broncos quarterback Jake Plummer among sports viewers across America.

Trying to fight our craving for sports gambling is a monumental waste of time.

"The sports gambling industry is here to stay, no matter what laws are made, just like alcohol and drugs and prostitution are here to stay," said Lawrence G. Walters, a Florida attorney who specializes in Internet gambling law.

"Gambling will always be part of the sports landscape," Walters said Tuesday. "To prohibit any activity only drives it underground."

OK, we all realize golfer John Daly should push himself away from the slot machines and the M&Ms. Like sex or candy, too much gambling can ruin a man. Big John is the people's champ for a reason, though. What good is living in the land of the free if we cannot indulge our vices a little?

BetonSports has suspended its U.S. operations, advising customers that it was temporarily unable to accept bets. But so long as there is a Super Bowl, there will be sports gambling. Don't try to eradicate it. Regulate it. Tax it.

One of these years, when America grows up and drops the naive idea that athletes are any more essential to the nation's moral fiber than movie stars or guitar pickers, sports wagering will be seen as a source of profit rather than a cause of hysteria for the U.S. government.

July 19, 2006
Posted By Susan Torres
Staff Editor, CasinoGamblingWeb.com    Previous Page | Internet Gambling | Top Online Casinos | Submit News!