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Placing bets online can be a gamble
By Paul Kuharsky, The Tennessean
The high school kid on a laptop might be downloading Eminem. The homemaker in the den might be researching remodeling. The businessman behind his closed office door might be checking stocks.
But today's Internet surfers, especially the ones in a setting offering plenty of privacy, might also be placing bets in the burgeoning world of online sports betting, where point spreads for tonight's game and "action" on it are readily available.
In 2002 online gambling accounted for $1.3 billion in revenue, according to the Interactive Gaming Council, a group advocating regulation and licensing of online gaming. In 2003, 12.2 million people were expected to gamble online, and of those, six million were expected to wager on sports.
Numerous opportunities to bet online offer a potent combination of access, anonymity and solitude that can blur the lines of what's legal and provide fertile ground from which gambling problems can grow.
"The anonymity, the secretiveness, the convenience has made betting a lot bigger problem than it has been," said John Eades, a counseling psychologist, gambling addict and Methodist minister in Murfreesboro, Tenn.
While the Justice Department holds a firm stance that online betting is illegal, even legislation being debated in Washington would be hard-pressed to get a complete handle on the widespread online business since the sites are based outside the United States.
"It is by far the most prevalent form of gambling in America that's 'not authorized,' " said UNLV public administration professor Bill Thompson, who has written eight books on gambling, including "Gambling in America: An Encyclopedia." "There are well over 1,000 sites and for some reason, every time I put on my computer, a gambling ad for an online casino pops up. I have to erase it before I look at my email."
Getting action
The online gambling industry is based primarily in the Caribbean and Central America. Some sites come and go, but big, stable ones handle a lot of money and will offer a line on just about anything. They generally have much higher limits than the sports books in Las Vegas.
Simon Noble is from England and lives in Antigua, where he is CEO of BetWWTS.com. The company is publicly traded in Australia and handled $540 million of business last year, making roughly $20 million in profit. His company pays 30% in corporate taxes in Australia, he said.
His book won't deal in the macabre — a pool betting on which aging celebrity will die first, for example. He said his book won't touch high school or little league games.
But everything else, from the Academy Awards to the Grammys, from Survivor to The Bachelor, is fair game in addition to more standard game bets and Super Bowl propositions.
"Literally we'll accept a bet on anything," Noble said.
With credit card companies looking to avoid gambling transactions, setting up accounts is not as easy as it used to be. Still, with a bank transfer, a check or online services like NetTeller it can usually be done. And once a person has money in one account at an offshore sports book, it's usually easy to transfer it to others.
New dangers for kids
Surf the Web long enough, chances are a person will find an easy avenue to a site that accepts bets. Those pop-up ads, along with press releases and radio ads plugging sites, all contribute to "mainstreaming it and implying it's legal," said Keith Whyte, the executive director of the National Council on Problem Gambling.
Most gamblers are responsible, Whyte emphasized. But roughly 3% of the general adult population and 6% of kids are not, and develop a gambling problem. Between 6 million and 8 million new adult gambling addicts emerge each year, he said.
Web gambling is clearly opening a new door to kids who might not otherwise be exposed to the possibilities of betting.
Whyte cited a study by the Institute for Adolescent Risk Communication of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania released in April that found 54% of boys between ages 14 and 18 said they had gambled for money and 10% said they had gambled on the Internet.
In many ways, online sports gambling has helped expand and redraw the picture of bettors and problem bettors.
"People picture a guy in a pinkie ring with a big chain and his shirt open, driving a flashy Cadillac," Eades said. "People don't realize now that it's really a kid in a T-shirt at the mall who is $100,000 in debt on his credit cards."
The legislative debate
Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) was at the head of a group of legislators behind a push to erase any doubts that Internet gambling is illegal by writing a stronger law, but that bill appears to have fizzled.
Another bill out of the House of Representatives remains alive. It would make it illegal to use credit cards, checks or other banking instruments to pay for online wagers.
Already, under the 1961 Wire Communications Act, the Justice Department says federal law prohibits gambling over the Internet. That law has been aimed at people who take bets, not people who make them, said Nelson Rose, a professor at the Whittier School of Law and an expert on gambling law.
Court interpretations have made it clear the law covers sports betting, but not necessarily online casinos, Rose said.
Jay Cohen, who moved from the United States to Antigua to found a web site called World Sports Exchange, was charged with breaking that law when he returned to the United States. He was sentenced to 21 months and lost an appeal. His story was featured on 60 Minutes.
Cohen may be the poster boy for the pitfalls of the business side of online gambling, but the vast majority of web sites and gamblers have no such legal or media attention.
Whyte said whether gambling is legal or not, his group just wants to help those with problems. Still, Whyte, like Eades, struggles to understand how illegal gambling goes largely unpoliced. They also take issue with newspapers which print point spreads.
"I don't see much other use for it except to facilitate betting," Whyte said. "I don't think you are printing the price of hookers or crack cocaine ... Maybe papers can at least print a help line too."
By Paul Kuharsky, The Tennessean
The high school kid on a laptop might be downloading Eminem. The homemaker in the den might be researching remodeling. The businessman behind his closed office door might be checking stocks.
But today's Internet surfers, especially the ones in a setting offering plenty of privacy, might also be placing bets in the burgeoning world of online sports betting, where point spreads for tonight's game and "action" on it are readily available.
In 2002 online gambling accounted for $1.3 billion in revenue, according to the Interactive Gaming Council, a group advocating regulation and licensing of online gaming. In 2003, 12.2 million people were expected to gamble online, and of those, six million were expected to wager on sports.
Numerous opportunities to bet online offer a potent combination of access, anonymity and solitude that can blur the lines of what's legal and provide fertile ground from which gambling problems can grow.
"The anonymity, the secretiveness, the convenience has made betting a lot bigger problem than it has been," said John Eades, a counseling psychologist, gambling addict and Methodist minister in Murfreesboro, Tenn.
While the Justice Department holds a firm stance that online betting is illegal, even legislation being debated in Washington would be hard-pressed to get a complete handle on the widespread online business since the sites are based outside the United States.
"It is by far the most prevalent form of gambling in America that's 'not authorized,' " said UNLV public administration professor Bill Thompson, who has written eight books on gambling, including "Gambling in America: An Encyclopedia." "There are well over 1,000 sites and for some reason, every time I put on my computer, a gambling ad for an online casino pops up. I have to erase it before I look at my email."
Getting action
The online gambling industry is based primarily in the Caribbean and Central America. Some sites come and go, but big, stable ones handle a lot of money and will offer a line on just about anything. They generally have much higher limits than the sports books in Las Vegas.
Simon Noble is from England and lives in Antigua, where he is CEO of BetWWTS.com. The company is publicly traded in Australia and handled $540 million of business last year, making roughly $20 million in profit. His company pays 30% in corporate taxes in Australia, he said.
His book won't deal in the macabre — a pool betting on which aging celebrity will die first, for example. He said his book won't touch high school or little league games.
But everything else, from the Academy Awards to the Grammys, from Survivor to The Bachelor, is fair game in addition to more standard game bets and Super Bowl propositions.
"Literally we'll accept a bet on anything," Noble said.
With credit card companies looking to avoid gambling transactions, setting up accounts is not as easy as it used to be. Still, with a bank transfer, a check or online services like NetTeller it can usually be done. And once a person has money in one account at an offshore sports book, it's usually easy to transfer it to others.
New dangers for kids
Surf the Web long enough, chances are a person will find an easy avenue to a site that accepts bets. Those pop-up ads, along with press releases and radio ads plugging sites, all contribute to "mainstreaming it and implying it's legal," said Keith Whyte, the executive director of the National Council on Problem Gambling.
Most gamblers are responsible, Whyte emphasized. But roughly 3% of the general adult population and 6% of kids are not, and develop a gambling problem. Between 6 million and 8 million new adult gambling addicts emerge each year, he said.
Web gambling is clearly opening a new door to kids who might not otherwise be exposed to the possibilities of betting.
Whyte cited a study by the Institute for Adolescent Risk Communication of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania released in April that found 54% of boys between ages 14 and 18 said they had gambled for money and 10% said they had gambled on the Internet.
In many ways, online sports gambling has helped expand and redraw the picture of bettors and problem bettors.
"People picture a guy in a pinkie ring with a big chain and his shirt open, driving a flashy Cadillac," Eades said. "People don't realize now that it's really a kid in a T-shirt at the mall who is $100,000 in debt on his credit cards."
The legislative debate
Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) was at the head of a group of legislators behind a push to erase any doubts that Internet gambling is illegal by writing a stronger law, but that bill appears to have fizzled.
Another bill out of the House of Representatives remains alive. It would make it illegal to use credit cards, checks or other banking instruments to pay for online wagers.
Already, under the 1961 Wire Communications Act, the Justice Department says federal law prohibits gambling over the Internet. That law has been aimed at people who take bets, not people who make them, said Nelson Rose, a professor at the Whittier School of Law and an expert on gambling law.
Court interpretations have made it clear the law covers sports betting, but not necessarily online casinos, Rose said.
Jay Cohen, who moved from the United States to Antigua to found a web site called World Sports Exchange, was charged with breaking that law when he returned to the United States. He was sentenced to 21 months and lost an appeal. His story was featured on 60 Minutes.
Cohen may be the poster boy for the pitfalls of the business side of online gambling, but the vast majority of web sites and gamblers have no such legal or media attention.
Whyte said whether gambling is legal or not, his group just wants to help those with problems. Still, Whyte, like Eades, struggles to understand how illegal gambling goes largely unpoliced. They also take issue with newspapers which print point spreads.
"I don't see much other use for it except to facilitate betting," Whyte said. "I don't think you are printing the price of hookers or crack cocaine ... Maybe papers can at least print a help line too."