Internet Gambling

I'm sitting at my computer. My palms are sweating. I'm up $1,100 at the blackjack table. I'd really be excited if it were real money I was winning. But it's not. It's play money.I'm "gambling" at the International Gaming Corporations's Global Casino located in cyberspace at www.gamblenet.com. I started with a $1,000 "stake" they gave me to try out a demo version of their on-line casino games. Now I've more than doubled my "money" and I can't seem to stop.

On-line gambling--what an incredibly obvious concept. Potential gambling site operators seeking to cash in are licking their lips in anticipation of what, to them, looks like the ultimate application for the Internet. Forget about on-line shopping; this has mother lode written all over it! "Find a way to bet on the Internet and you've got a gold mine," says Eamonn Wilmott who is developing an on-line gambling site.

Add to this the incredible savings in startup and operating expenses for an on-line gaming venture. There are no costs to construct and maintain a multi-million dollar casino and there are no dealers and other traditional casino workers to pay. The whole operation can be set up for the price of a few computers and some software.

U.S. casino revenue has more than doubled in the last five years, exceeding $20 billion in 1995 according to information on nevadanet.com. And International Gaming & Wagering Business, an industry journal, estimates more than $500 billion will be wagered legally in the United States in 1996 with around 8 percent, or $40 billion, kept by casinos, racetracks and others. If Internet gambling can glean just a small percentage of this bonanza it could represent a huge proportion of all income generated on-line.

While the potential revenue is definitely a draw for those contemplating entering this relatively untapped market, another is the lack of regulation. The Interstate Wire Act of 1961, 18 U.S.C. 1084, which addresses the transmital of wagering information by interstate and international wire facilities, was initially drafted to target bookmakers and organized crime involved with sports betting. But the World Wide Web has changed the playing field. It's unclear, in the environment of the Internet, what is legal and what is not, where jurisdictions start and stop. Various commissions are hurriedly studying the Wire Act to determine its deficiencies in allowing government to regulate and tax. Craig I. Fields, who helped create the Internet, has said, "We built it to be Russian-proof, but it turned out to be regulator-proof."

One attempt to rein in this emerging industry is occurring in Minnesota, where officials there have sued a Nevada company ready to offer sports betting on-line at Wager Net (www.wagernet.com). Minnesota claims it constitutes consumer fraud to advertise, wrongly, that the system is legal. And Arizona Senator Jon Kyl proposed a bill in 1996, which was later killed, that would have made all Internet gambling illegal. This and similar attempts at preemptive legislation and control have helped to push some electronic gambling ventures offshore to a variety of locations with laxer laws such as Belize and Granada. The hope is that, whatever the laws become in the United States, it will be next to impossible to enforce them on foreign soil.

But on-line wagering is being developed at a time when gambling is receiving greater acceptance from government. The advent of the modern lottery in the 1970s has made these forms of gambling so ubiquitous that many states' budgets are totally reliant on the income generated from lottos. What lawmakers are saying, in effect, is that it's okay to gamble with us but not okay to gamble with someone else.

Concerns of gambling becoming too accessible are also surfacing. To people involved with organizations such as Gamblers Anonymous and the Compulsive Gambling Center in Baltimore, the fear is that anyone with access to a computer can gamble 24 hours a day in total privacy and without fear of recrimination. The temptation to gamble compulsively for some people would be just too great to resist. They would like to see the entire industry just go away.

Potential gamers are concerned about the trustworthiness of on-line betting parlors. With electronic gaming establishments essentially existing everywhere and nowhere at all, how can you be sure that if you win you can collect? The same lack of regulation that draws businesses into the on-line gambling business results in little or no regulatory protection from the consumer's standpoint. And what's to stop the virtual casino from adjusting the software to introduce unfair odds for its customers? In order for electronic gambling operations to be successful they will need to develop an image of reliability as well as legality before huge numbers of people begin entrusting to them their bets on sporting events or casino games.

Currently there are just a handful of virtual casinos taking real bets. Most on-line gaming sites have just a billboard storefront with, perhaps, some demo versions of what the electronic gambling experience will be like when they go live. Most of these run excruciatingly slowly over a modem connection and will probably need significant improvements before they can really be expected to take off. One of the best sites is Gamble Net at the URL mentioned above. They've circumvented speed limitations by designing their casino games as Java applets that are downloaded to the user's computer, then run locally for the duration of the gaming session.

To get started placing bets from your computer, you will need to set up an account with $300 or more first. Some sites also assess a nominal monthly service charge, usually under $10. Your winnings, if any, would then be transferred by a credit to your bank card, direct wire or check.

Other sites to check out are: Internet Casinos at www.casino.org, Carib Sportsbook, Inc. at www.interpublish.com/caribsportsbook/, and REAL Casino at www.realcasino.com. Good Luck! Now if I can just get my winnings up to an even $1,500 I'll probably cash out.