Internet Gambling Ban Hits Snag In Congress
from the on-again-off-again dept
US lawmakers have modified a bill to ban online gambling that has been receiving a lot of attention lately. The modification takes out an exemption for lawful casinos. While, on its face, this makes it sound like the bill would be even more stringent, the reality is that this change makes it less likely the bill will ever get passed. Apparently, no one in Congress can figure out how to properly write a ban on online gambling, so we end up with nothing instead.
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Gambling commissions?
I'm mainly familiar with Las Vegas, but have visited casinos in Atlantic City and some of the various 'riverboat' casinos in the mid-west.
I know for a fact that even though gambling is legal in Nevada, every gaming site, every game's rules, every table layout, etc. has to be approved by the Nevada Gaming Commission. Every casino employee, whether they be a cook, housekeeper or dealer has to be approved by the commission and they are required by law to carry their photo ID badge with them at all times on the premises.
It's because of these stringent rules that you can be assured that you're not being cheated in Las Vegas - you can still lose all your money, and you probably will, but it will be fairly and according to the approved rules.
I'm 99% certain that NJ has the same sort of setup and that most other states do as well.
I'm sure it would be easy enough to write a law that states that all online gambling sites have to be reviewed and approved by an official state gaming commision to be able to operate sites available in the U.S. "If you don't have a U.S. State Gaming Commission seal of approval, you can't legally accept bets in the U.S."
What's so tough about that?
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Re: Gambling commissions?
AFAIK you are 100% correct. The commissions also inspect the software and hardware of gambling machines like slots and video poker. All to make sure the machines behave as advertised and are not rigged to benefit the owners.
I can't believe there are people out there who wager on games of chance online (blackjack, slots, craps, etc.) that are not overseen by any regulator. They are asking for it. To fix those games is trivial when the game is all software. (give the house dealer an ace and a face 80% of the time in blackjack, or a million other more subtle, more effective software tricks)
I don't think anything is going to stop people from gambling online, at least the US government could regulate it to make sure it's fair. Hell, put Bill Bennet on it, he's familiar with the territory.
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