Gambling News - August 2005 Edition

"Casino Says Online Gambling Isn't Actually Online"

U.S. Casinos look for and use loopholes in the law in order to operate an online casino.

Online gambling is illegal in the United States and online gambling has become very, very big. But that hasn’t stopped all sorts of entrepreneurs and businesspeople from setting up online gambling sites. The founders of these online gambling businesses get around the legality issue in the U.S. by basing their companies in overseas countries where online gambling is legal. The operators then claim that they cannot control who is playing and that they have no way of telling whether the gambler is a resident of the United States, where most of the revenue for online gambling comes from. So far, this loophole has worked for these companies.

With the huge amounts of profit being made in this industry, it is not surprising that businesses inside the United States are continually seeking ways to skirt the law in their hope to be able to set up an online gambling business that can be run from within the U.S.

The huge Connecticut casino, Foxwoods is a perfect example of a company looking for and using a loophole in the law in order to operate an online casino. The casino set up an online gambling promotion whereby people can play slot machines and cards online without affecting the actual game or slot machine outcome. The money wagered by the online players is ‘given’ to a surrogate at the Foxwoods casino. The surrogate then plays on behalf of the online player. Foxwoods argues that this method is perfectly legal and compares it to how some people will give a friend money to bet on their behalf at a land based casino. However, the state of Connecticut doesn’t agree with this argument and is demanding that Foxwoods close their site down.

Foxwoods has complied, but with such attractive profits to be made, it is only a matter of time until another land based casino gets the same or some other idea to operate while circumventing the law.