Thanks for the support Prov.
This sector will be very big, but as we all know, and as many sites that we have copied to this thread indicate, there needs to be some kind of regulation. It needs to protect the player who wants it. It needs to keep out those who we don't want to visit-illegal jurisdictions, minors, etc. It will become a major form of entertainment, and WINR can bring it to the front. WINR should move swiftly to dominate even though they are without competition, for the sake of the industry.
Miller
I found this article on the following site: mojones.com
I notice that Sue Schneider keeps getting mentioned more and more in these articles. She is the editor of RGTonline in case some do not know. Obviously she is building herself well in the industry as a major advocate and voice. She is well aware of WINR and knows the owner of Access World. As I said before, this is one ally that WINR will be glad to have.
World Wide Wagering
The internet already offers opportunities to lose your
shirt without leaving your home -- and more gambling
sites are on the way.
by Sandra Rosenzweig
Place your virtual bets. by the year 2000,
according to conservative estimates, online
gambling will be an $8-$10 billion business.
About 20 sites already offer live, online
betting on casino games, sporting events, and
lotteries. This is big business, and it's only going to
get bigger. Craig Fields, the former head of the
government agency that developed the Internet,
now sits on the board of Alliance Gaming, a publicly
traded Las Vegas gambling equipment manufacturer
and developer of online gambling applications. "I
think [online gambling] is going to be received as an
entirely new form of entertainment," he told the
New York Times in 1995. "The prospects are not
modest."
It makes sense. Gambling is a perfect online fit.
Buying a lottery ticket online, for example, will be
roughly the same as going into a liquor store to buy
one, except you won't have to step over the winos.
Video poker should also prove popular on the World
Wide Web; it's already one of the most lucrative
games at a majority of the country's Indian and
high-stakes casinos. You like it because you're shy
about playing at the tables. Or you like it because
you grew up with Nintendo's Super Mario Brothers
and Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog. How much
different will it be to play it at home?
A few impediments do exist, though. For instance,
how do you know a fix isn't in? What guarantees do
you have that the virtual blackjack deck was
shuffled fairly? How do you know the virtual dice
aren't virtually shaved? And even if the games are
honest, how do you know you'll see your winnings?
Because the legal status of Internet gambling in the
United States isn't clear yet, heavily regulated
corporate gambling houses such as Hilton Hotels
and Harrah's haven't dared enter the fray. If they
are caught committing even one illegal act, they risk
losing their licenses permanently. So the online field
is populated by start-ups -- unknown, unregulated,
unfettered, and usually offshore. To become a
virtual casino operator, all it takes is a room with a
closet big enough to hold a server, a router, and a
T-1 line.
Where operators set up shop is another question.
Gambling laws, largely under the purview of the
states, vary across the country. But thanks to the
Web, bettors may simply take online trips out of
state to avoid local prohibitions and lay down the
wager of their choice.
At the federal level, the 1961 Federal Wire Statute may or may
not apply to Internet gambling. The law prohibits the
transmission of bets, wagers, or information assisting in the
placing of bets or wagers, according to Anthony Cabot, a
lawyer and adjunct professor at the University of Nevada's Las
Vegas International Gaming Institute. Basically designed to
prosecute bookies who use the phone to take bets, the statute
does not directly concern the Web, although federal regulators
may try to apply it to prevent gambling transactions made via modem. To get
around these vague federal restrictions, most site operators settle offshore -- in
Antigua, the Bahamas, Aruba -- where gambling is legal and local governments
even give them tax breaks. And it is practically impossible to prosecute people
acting legally overseas, even if their activities violate American law. That's the
nature of the Net. "We built it to be Russian-proof," Fields told the New York
Times, "but it turned out to be regulator-proof."
Some legislators think the solution is to frighten away bettors and intimidate
operators. Sen. Jon Kyl, a Republican from Arizona, has introduced a bill that
would make most Internet gambling illegal. Moreover, it would target the gambler
as well as the operator. And it would let police demand -- without a court order --
that Internet service providers regulated by the Federal Communications
Commission shut off service to sites presumed to offer gambling.
Kyl's attack on gambling as a vice is full of family-values buzzwords, but he's got a
point: The easier it is to gamble, the more people who will have a gambling
problem. Kevin O'Neill, deputy director of the Council on Compulsive Gambling of
New Jersey, says that a statewide study concluded that compulsive or problem
gamblers make up about 5 percent of the adult population that gambles -- but 12
percent of the juvenile population that gambles.
"Compulsive gambling is already called the hidden addiction," O'Neill says, adding
that Internet gambling will only increase the number of secret addicts. "If you're
talking about someone sitting in his house and he can gamble, we'll never see
anyone."
Sue Schneider, managing editor of Rolling Good Times Online, a Web magazine
for gamblers, agrees. As the chair of the Interactive Gaming Council, she is
working with the industry to develop a code of conduct for online gambling
operators: Sites would voluntarily open their systems to inspection, limit access to
minors, and institute rules to control compulsive gambling.
On another front, state attorneys general are looking for ways to limit Internet
gambling. In Minnesota, for example, Attorney General Hubert Humphrey III is
using laws against deceptive advertising to obtain jurisdiction over out-of-state
Internet gambling sites and prevent providers from targeting Minnesota citizens.
The Kyl bill, in its zeal to ban all Internet wagers, may also limit American Indians'
online gambling operations, which are currently exempt from most federal
regulations. The Coeur d'Alene Nation is preparing to test the extent of its
sovereignty by setting up a nationwide Internet lottery.
Few observers give the Kyl bill much chance of enactment, however. And even if
Congress were to pass it, the offshore genie is already out of the bottle.
In five years, when it's in full swing, Internet gambling will not look entirely like
Las Vegas or Atlantic City. Serious bettors will probably gravitate to sites offering
odds on everything from horse races to presidential elections. (These are the safest
ways to bet because everyone knows the outcome of the event -- the casino can't
fudge the results.) The video generation, by contrast, will congregate at multiplayer
gambling sites, which are sure to be designed like theme parks, such as Attila's
World or Caesar's World. And so-called boutique sites will cater to specific
segments of the population -- from French speakers to gay people to other groups.
If our state and federal governments regulate these sites, casino giants such as
Hilton and Harrah's will leap in with their big bucks and their brand-name
recognition -- and consumers will trust them.
Even if the Kyl bill does succeed in limiting Internet gambling in the United States,
offshore Web sites will continue to thrive in the rest of the world. So any U.S.
citizen equipped with a computer and a modem will have access to online betting.
The question is whether its effect will bear more resemblance to that of crack or of
Coca-Cola. |
