Internet Gambling and Casinos
Dateline: 08/03/98
Last week I reported that the Senate voted to ban internet gambling I would like to share some of my thoughts with you. I am opposed to the law. The World Wide Web is just as the name implies, world wide. I don’t think that the government is going to be able to enforce the ban. What real chance is there of enforcing this ban around the world, especially when other governments take a more permissive approach?
The Senators proposed that service providers could simply put filters on to block access to the gambling sites. In an article for “Rolling Good Times”, Glen Barry writes that such interference may be similar to a Russian proposal having internet providers snoop on clients. Even if it was this simple, who do you think will end up paying for these filters? You and I of course.
Vernon D. Burke President , of Skowhegan OnLine shared his opinion in an editorial in the Bangor Daily News. " I provide general access to the Internet, period. I don't make any more if my customers go to a pornography site than if they go to a religious site, nor do I host any web site with illegal content. I have no vested interest in any illegal activity.As for "pulling the plug" on illegal sites, who's going to pay for surfing millions of constantly changing sites to verify that there is no illegal content on any of them? Who is going to analyze the hundreds of megabytes of traffic that flow through my service every day for illegal content? The sheer magnitude of such an operation would be beyond anyone, even the government. That's like making the phone company responsible for every obscene phone call that occurs because it didn't monitor every single one of millions of phone calls every day for illegal activity."
Last year the government passed the Communications Decency Act of 1996. That Bill which barred indecent and “offensive” materials on the net, was ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court. I know there will be a similar challenge of the Kyl amendment. Personally I think the Government has as much chance of banning internet gambling as the FAA has of banning migrating ducks from flying through commercial air space.
Although I am opposed to the law, I do not endorse internet gambling.
I think that anyone wagering real money in cyber casinos are taking a big risk. Internet gambling is unregulated. There are no Gaming Control Commissions to check that the games are legit. All of the cyber casinos are based outside the United States. For the last two years during football season, I've read numerous stories of people losing money when off shore wagering sites go out of business or refuse to pay off.
Take into account that with a legitimate casino, all but a few games have negative expectations. Add to this a game that is dealt by computer and you could be courting disaster. The house edge may be even bigger than you think. I have sat at a blackjack table and seen a dealer draw 3 blackjacks in a row. Its hard to believe when it happens live in front of you, how will you feel when it happens during a computer game on the Internet.
I suggest before you put up your hard earned money, you visit a site like Blackjack Time. This site offers Free Blackjack tournaments for real prizes. There is no risk. The site is run by Marathon Entertainment who say the game is completely random and honest. After the cyber-dealer beats your 20 with blackjacks or draws to 21 you will be glad your only using funny money.
I am not accusing anyone of fraud, but there is always a possibility that it could happen in an unregulated environment. “Buyer Beware” or in this case “BETtor Beware!”