7-29_b8_EXTRA_Internet.html

[Damaged Justice <frogfarm@yakko.cs.wmich.edu>]

  Tuesday
  
   July 29, 1997
   
   [1]ImageMap
   
   LA Fitness
   
                        Web gaming is 'ripe for fraud'
     _________________________________________________________________
   
   By Patrick Wilson
   Washington Bureau
     _________________________________________________________________
   
   WASHINGTON - Two senators toured Internet gambling sites Monday as
   they listened to warnings the growing online casino industry could be
   ripe for corruption and consumer fraud.
   
   Sens. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., and Richard Bryan, D-Nev., looked on as
   Wisconsin Attorney General Jim Doyle presented what he characterized
   as questionable Web gambling sites.
   
   Doyle appeared before a Senate technology subcommittee studying a bill
   by Kyl to ban gaming on the World Wide Web.
   
   Doyle said Web gaming has grown from a "sleeping giant" to a developed
   industry that must be stopped. To demonstrate how easy it is to gamble
   online, he played a videotaped sample of online casinos such as the
   "Golden Palace," where Web surfers can use credit cards to play craps,
   keno, slots and blackjack, among other games.
   
   Doyle noted the Internet gambling industry even has its own online
   newsletter, "Rolling Good Times," which now is conducting an online
   poll where people can bet - for fun - on whether Congress will pass
   Kyl's bill.
   
   "Who knows what's on the other end of this screen?" Doyle said. "Who
   knows if those cards are fair? Who knows whether organized criminal
   activity is involved?"
   
   Bryan said he has "no confidence whatsoever that gaming on the
   Internet can be regulated now or at any time in the future."
   
   "Unlike the heavily regulated casinos in Nevada, Internet wagering is
   unregulated, and since many of these sites operate off-shore it is
   beyond the reach of U.S. authorities," he said. "Such a scenario is
   ripe for consumer fraud."
   
   Web gambling is catching on rapidly, with one estimate reporting 25
   gaming sites and 100 more in the works. Bryan called Internet betting
   "something that's kind of mushroomed."
   
   Internet users can gamble online with a credit card or by setting up
   an account. There is no way to stop children from gambling on the
   information superhighway, say supporters of the Kyl bill.
   
   "Bringing gaming directly into people's homes, as we are beginning to
   see through the Internet, is so full of potential problems and so far
   beyond the ability of any state to regulate that despite whatever
   business potential it may have it needs to be prohibited on a national
   level," Bryan said.
   
   Kyl's bill, backed by the National Association of Attorneys General,
   would punish those who set up Internet gaming Web sites with a fine of
   up to $10,000, two years in prison or both. Those who made an online
   wager would face one year in prison and a $5,000 fine.
   
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References

   1. LYNXIMGMAP:http://www.dailybulletin.com/news/7-29_b8_EXTRA_Internet.html#navbar
   2. http://www.dailybulletin.com/news/7-29_b8_EXTRA_Internet.html#a