13 May 2009
Online Gambling: To Play or Not To Play? 23 Aug 2006 Tony Cabot, a market analyst commented to the Las Vegas Review - Journal: "When you force legitimate businesses to the sidelines, it opens the world to people who operate in gray or black areas." This statement opened the discussion on whether prohibit online gambling or not. Nevertheless a number of expert gambling judges that what we really require are several guidelines, instead of the complete and utter prohibition of the online gambling functions. The historical fact that illustrates this notion best is the notorious embargo in U.S.A. in the 1930's. Personas such as Al Capone were major successful, due to the fact that the more prohibited alcohol was the more flourished the underground market. Today, the limitations that were imposed basically left the gambling industry on an "on hold" mode, as a result of that international underground companies are more than happy to follow through their operations. An additional expert from Bear Stearns Co. Inc., market analyst Michael Tew has stated the U.S. Justice Department doesn't invest much time after chasing illegal gambling sites held by foreign residents, but rather accuses the citizens for operating gambling sites on the Internet. As if this wasn't enough The U.S. House of Representatives endorsed an Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, which prevents the person from using his credit cards and additional online means of payment for online gambling purposes. The difficulty is that nobody from the Senate is prepared to see the bill in practice. A representative from MGM Mirage, Alan Feldman is actually convinced that the suspension by Congress essentially might promote the online gambling industry. He states: "It gives (MGM Mirage) a chance to show regulators that we have developed a system ... by which government can become comfortable with legalized and regulated Internet gambling." For now, we have to be aware of the fact that among the approximately 1,800 online gaming websites that function worldwide, around 75% are supposedly regulated by the government. |  |
