http://www.covers.com/includes/articles.aspx?theArt=17878&tid=36
While sports bettors wrangle with the lines in Las Vegas, the U.S. and Nevada governments continue to play tug of war with the issue of online gambling.
Die-hard politicians, determined to eradicate online gambling, threaten the days of clicking on a mouse to lay a bet.
At the moment, the anti-online gambling force in Washington has two bills in the legislature - the Leach Bill and Kyl Bill. Both are designed to halt U.S. bettors from wagering with offshore books by cutting off the sources that fund the accounts. The bills would make monetary transfers to online gambling sites illegal.
• Special Report: The state of sports gambling •
“It’s more difficult to get money to and from offshore books,” says Stephen Nover, a Las Vegas resident and professional handicapper with Covers Experts. “They are cutting out the middle man. It’s too bad that America has this Puritan attitude. ”
The politicians who support the Kyl and Leach bills cite the never-ending battle against the corruption of American youth and the fear of compulsive gambling as reasons to destroy online gaming.
If the Kyl Bill passes, violators face fines and a possible prison sentence up to five years
Similar bills from Leach and Kyl died in Congress in previous years but the mere threat already has credit card companies shaking in their boots. It is reported that credit card companies turn down four of five payments to online sportsbooks.
Some sportsbooks admit the credit card limitations have probably hurt their overall handle, but many operations continue to grow at record rates. It seems just like the pesky war on drugs and the days of prohibition, people will find a way to gamble as long as there are pointspreads still being posted.
“I think sports betting will always be there,” Nover said. “People are still going to find a way to bet. If it’s not at a sportsbook, it will be at the illegal sportsbooks.”
There are an estimated 250,000 illegal bookies in the U.S. ready to take sports bets. That number is only likely to increase if online gambling disappears.
Supporters of online gambling want the U.S. government to legalize the practice. They say the U.S. government could regulate gambling and rake in the millions of tax dollars that will come with it.
However, the same argument has been used for the legalization of marijuana and America has yet to convert New York back to New Amsterdam.
“I think you would need a Democrat in office,” Nover said. “And that doesn’t look good.”
Las Vegas remains one of the few places in America where Joe Bettor can legally lay down some cash on his favorite sport. But even the Sin City has been reduced to little more than a play toy for government regulators.
“Before people would come here to live because gambling was legal,” says Lem Banker, a well-known professional sports gambler. “Now there are too many restrictions.”
In the past, casinos allowed Nevada-based bettors to open phone accounts to call in their bets from home instead of getting out of bed and traveling to a sportsbook. Casinos accepted most monetary bets over the phone if the bettor had an account.
However, the Nevada Gaming Control Board clamped down on the phone accounts in 1999, limiting phone bets to $2,200 a day per bettor. In 2001, it forced phone bettors to use an awkward pager system in which the bettors call the casinos to make a bet and then wait for a PIN number from the casino that finalized the bet. It made pager companies even richer and caused multiple heart attacks among sports bettors when casinos claimed they didn’t receive the pages.
The Las Vegas Journal-Review reported that sportsbooks took in a huge $2.5 billion dollars worth of bets in 2000, before the pager system began. In 2002, the sportsbooks took in $2 billion.
“Even though having a telephone account helps, so you don’t have to run around, it hurts because you can only bet so much,” says Covers Expert Bryan Leonard. “Whereas offshore, if you have $50,000 in your account, you can bet $50,000.”
Sports bettors in the legal confines of Nevada also face increasingly stringent sportsbooks that prefer the recreational bettors to the wise guys that might affect the casino’s bottom line.
“Look at Las Vegas now as opposed to 10 years ago,” Leonard said. “At Binion’s (Casino), they would take any bet. You could say, ‘I want to bet $10,000 on the Knicks tonight’ and they would take it. Now you go over there and you want to put a thousand dollars down and they scrutinize like, ‘Who is this guy?’”
In a throwback to 1930s prohibition, the new regulations pushed many Vegas-based sharps sports bettors to the Internet, although it’s against Nevada state law to bet online.
“Technically it’s illegal for Nevada residents to bet over the Internet, but a lot of sports bettors still do,” says Nover. “No one in Nevada has ever been prosecuted for betting over the Internet.”
But restrictions also face the sharps who turn to offshore books. Many offshore books ban sharps if they have a reputation as a winner. Like Las Vegas, the offshore books want the losers too.
Unfortunately, everyone will lose if the government can’t come up with a compromise that pleases the bettors, books and critics alike. Don’t hold your breath waiting for that to happen any time soon.
While sports bettors wrangle with the lines in Las Vegas, the U.S. and Nevada governments continue to play tug of war with the issue of online gambling.
Die-hard politicians, determined to eradicate online gambling, threaten the days of clicking on a mouse to lay a bet.
At the moment, the anti-online gambling force in Washington has two bills in the legislature - the Leach Bill and Kyl Bill. Both are designed to halt U.S. bettors from wagering with offshore books by cutting off the sources that fund the accounts. The bills would make monetary transfers to online gambling sites illegal.
• Special Report: The state of sports gambling •
“It’s more difficult to get money to and from offshore books,” says Stephen Nover, a Las Vegas resident and professional handicapper with Covers Experts. “They are cutting out the middle man. It’s too bad that America has this Puritan attitude. ”
The politicians who support the Kyl and Leach bills cite the never-ending battle against the corruption of American youth and the fear of compulsive gambling as reasons to destroy online gaming.
If the Kyl Bill passes, violators face fines and a possible prison sentence up to five years
Similar bills from Leach and Kyl died in Congress in previous years but the mere threat already has credit card companies shaking in their boots. It is reported that credit card companies turn down four of five payments to online sportsbooks.
Some sportsbooks admit the credit card limitations have probably hurt their overall handle, but many operations continue to grow at record rates. It seems just like the pesky war on drugs and the days of prohibition, people will find a way to gamble as long as there are pointspreads still being posted.
“I think sports betting will always be there,” Nover said. “People are still going to find a way to bet. If it’s not at a sportsbook, it will be at the illegal sportsbooks.”
There are an estimated 250,000 illegal bookies in the U.S. ready to take sports bets. That number is only likely to increase if online gambling disappears.
Supporters of online gambling want the U.S. government to legalize the practice. They say the U.S. government could regulate gambling and rake in the millions of tax dollars that will come with it.
However, the same argument has been used for the legalization of marijuana and America has yet to convert New York back to New Amsterdam.
“I think you would need a Democrat in office,” Nover said. “And that doesn’t look good.”
Las Vegas remains one of the few places in America where Joe Bettor can legally lay down some cash on his favorite sport. But even the Sin City has been reduced to little more than a play toy for government regulators.
“Before people would come here to live because gambling was legal,” says Lem Banker, a well-known professional sports gambler. “Now there are too many restrictions.”
In the past, casinos allowed Nevada-based bettors to open phone accounts to call in their bets from home instead of getting out of bed and traveling to a sportsbook. Casinos accepted most monetary bets over the phone if the bettor had an account.
However, the Nevada Gaming Control Board clamped down on the phone accounts in 1999, limiting phone bets to $2,200 a day per bettor. In 2001, it forced phone bettors to use an awkward pager system in which the bettors call the casinos to make a bet and then wait for a PIN number from the casino that finalized the bet. It made pager companies even richer and caused multiple heart attacks among sports bettors when casinos claimed they didn’t receive the pages.
The Las Vegas Journal-Review reported that sportsbooks took in a huge $2.5 billion dollars worth of bets in 2000, before the pager system began. In 2002, the sportsbooks took in $2 billion.
“Even though having a telephone account helps, so you don’t have to run around, it hurts because you can only bet so much,” says Covers Expert Bryan Leonard. “Whereas offshore, if you have $50,000 in your account, you can bet $50,000.”
Sports bettors in the legal confines of Nevada also face increasingly stringent sportsbooks that prefer the recreational bettors to the wise guys that might affect the casino’s bottom line.
“Look at Las Vegas now as opposed to 10 years ago,” Leonard said. “At Binion’s (Casino), they would take any bet. You could say, ‘I want to bet $10,000 on the Knicks tonight’ and they would take it. Now you go over there and you want to put a thousand dollars down and they scrutinize like, ‘Who is this guy?’”
In a throwback to 1930s prohibition, the new regulations pushed many Vegas-based sharps sports bettors to the Internet, although it’s against Nevada state law to bet online.
“Technically it’s illegal for Nevada residents to bet over the Internet, but a lot of sports bettors still do,” says Nover. “No one in Nevada has ever been prosecuted for betting over the Internet.”
But restrictions also face the sharps who turn to offshore books. Many offshore books ban sharps if they have a reputation as a winner. Like Las Vegas, the offshore books want the losers too.
Unfortunately, everyone will lose if the government can’t come up with a compromise that pleases the bettors, books and critics alike. Don’t hold your breath waiting for that to happen any time soon.
