To many North Carolinians, it won't matter whether the state approves a legal lottery any time soon. They already have plenty of opportunities to satisfy their gambling appetites on the Internet.
With an estimated 1,800 Internet gambling sites from which to choose, all one needs to wager on a multitude of casino games and sporting events is a computer, cash or a credit card to set up an account. All the thrills of a casino or sports arena can be had in the privacy of one's home, and gambling can take place any time of the day.
Whether addicted to gambling online or merely using it as an occasional diversion, players are nearly unanimous in their insistence to keep their identities anonymous. Their reluctance to "come out" could be attributed in part to the fact that online gambling is illegal, not only in North Carolina but also throughout the U.S. The pastime's legal status, however, doesn't seem to lessen player enthusiasm.
"I think it's great," said Steve of Kinston. "I just use the Internet for fun to bet on a few football games each year. I'm not a gambler. This year I made it through the whole season on $100."
Scott, another Kinston resident, isn't as thrilled with on-line gambling. He describes himself as a gambler who enjoys card games.
"I tried online gambling four or five years ago and didn't like it," he said. "I just didn't find it exciting. There was no atmosphere. I need to hear those bells."
From fun to compulsion
And Melanie, 47, a Gamblers Anonymous member from Raleigh, describes herself as the perfect example of an on-line compulsive gambler.
Her problems began about a year and a half ago, when she began gambling on several on-line poker sites. She started by betting $50 and found she really enjoyed the gambling.
"I liked it a lot," Melanie said. "Sometimes I would win, and sometimes I would lose. I started putting more and more money into it. I got really high and really excited. It made me feel so good."
But the experience ruined her life. Before she admitted in December that she has a gambling problem, she lost about $17,000. Her husband found out and plans to leave her, she had no money to buy Christmas presents and for several months she lived a secret life, petrified by the though that someone would discover her gambling problem.
"This has ruined my life," she said. "I was living in my own secret world. If I wasn't playing online poker, I was thinking about playing, or I was trying to shuffle money around so I could afford to play. The last six months were torture. I kept secrets and lied. I lived in paralyzing fear that my husband or someone else would find out about my gambling."
Melanie wants people to know her story and to be careful with online gambling. It can become addictive without warning, she said.
"I had played cards before at casinos and never had a problem," Melanie said. "I never dreamed I could become addicted. I just became overwhelmed right away with on-line poker. I'm not sure why."
Online illegal everywhere
An estimate by the federal General Accounting Office puts the amount waged online in 2003 at $4 billion. By the end of 2004, that figure was expected to jump to $6.3 billion.
But while North Carolina has no law specifically banning online gambling, the practice is illegal here based on general gambling statutes, an expert on criminal law at the Institute of Government in Chapel Hill said.
"Betting on a game of chance is illegal in North Carolina, whether it takes place on a casino Web site or physically in a home in Kinston," attorney Robert Farb said. "There is no difference. Gambling is gambling."
Farb added that online gamblers can be prosecuted if they gamble from anywhere in North Carolina, but developing a criminal case is always difficult. Anyone operating an Internet gambling site in the state is also violating state law, he said, and is subject to prosecution.
North Carolina is not the only state where online gambling is illegal. Internet gambling is illegal for Americans under the federal 1961 Wire Wager Act, which prohibits the use of phone lines for placing sports bets.
But U.S. law enforcement officials are usually stalled in their efforts to shut down gambling Web sites. The sites are legal in other countries, and are usually based off-shore outside U.S. jurisdiction.
William McKinney, a spokesman for the N.C. Attorney General's Office, said there is no way to know exactly how many North Carolinians gamble online. He also said there is no easy way to determine if any sites are being operated illegally within the state.
McKinney added that his office seldom gets involved with online gambling cases. It is the county district attorneys, he said, who are usually responsible for prosecuting cases of alleged illegal gambling.
Internet gambling "alarming"
Imelda Pate, assistant district attorney for Lenoir County, has never prosecuted an online gambling case. Under state law, she said, on-line gambling is considered a Class 2 misdemeanor with a penalty of up to 60 days in jail and a possible fine levied at the judge's discretion.
According to a March 2000 report by the President's Working Group on Unlawful Conduct on the Internet, the Internet's rapid growth of Internet gambling is "alarming and has caused several problems for federal, state, tribal and local governments in the enforcement of gambling laws."
The report describes the Internet as being attractive to organized crime groups that operate gambling businesses.
"It allows virtually instantaneous and anonymous communications that can be difficult to trace to any individual or organization," the report reads. "There is also the possibility of abuse by unscrupulous gambling operators."
Also, the report points to the anonymous nature of the Internet as an invitation for minors to gamble, and notes that easy access any time of the day to Web gambling can present a great danger to compulsive gamblers.
Luring young people?
The rapidly growing number of on-line gambling sites reportedly is causing more Americans to turn to gambling as a means of entertainment. Anti-gambling activists fear that the sites are especially targeting young people, who are comfortable with computers, and individuals who would rather gamble from the privacy of their homes than travel to a casino. Women, as well as men, are becoming avid online gamblers, and experts in human behavior warn that online gambling can be addictive.
Greg Gridley, a clinical psychologist in Kinston, has had clients seeking help to overcome online gambling addictions.
"On-line gambling does get addictive," he said. "People find it interesting, it can be done from one's home, and it is easily accessible."
Gridley said the addiction to on-line gambling does not discriminate by gender, social or economic class, or age.
"People gamble for the thrill of it," he said. "If it works, and they win, the intermittent reinforcement keeps the bad behavior going."
Bob K., a Gamblers Anonymous member from Chapel Hill, said that about one third of compulsive gambling is now done online. He estimates there are about 2,000 compulsive on-line gamblers in North Carolina.
"The feeling you get from on-line gambling is like that of someone who is at a casino," Bob said. "It is a case where the gambler feels he is control. Online, the gambling can be done in the privacy of the home and no one knows that you are destroying yourself and everyone else."
Bob said that at first on-line gambling, like other forms of gambling, is pleasurable. Once the line is crossed, and the gambling is out of control, the addiction can lead to broken marriages, financial ruin, depression, jail time, and in some cases suicide.
A member of Gamblers Anonymous for 35 years, Bob believes the increase in on-line gambling is leading people toward becoming compulsive gamblers at a younger age.
"Everyone has a computer," he said. "People are getting hooked on gambling at a younger age."
kinston.com
With an estimated 1,800 Internet gambling sites from which to choose, all one needs to wager on a multitude of casino games and sporting events is a computer, cash or a credit card to set up an account. All the thrills of a casino or sports arena can be had in the privacy of one's home, and gambling can take place any time of the day.
Whether addicted to gambling online or merely using it as an occasional diversion, players are nearly unanimous in their insistence to keep their identities anonymous. Their reluctance to "come out" could be attributed in part to the fact that online gambling is illegal, not only in North Carolina but also throughout the U.S. The pastime's legal status, however, doesn't seem to lessen player enthusiasm.
"I think it's great," said Steve of Kinston. "I just use the Internet for fun to bet on a few football games each year. I'm not a gambler. This year I made it through the whole season on $100."
Scott, another Kinston resident, isn't as thrilled with on-line gambling. He describes himself as a gambler who enjoys card games.
"I tried online gambling four or five years ago and didn't like it," he said. "I just didn't find it exciting. There was no atmosphere. I need to hear those bells."
From fun to compulsion
And Melanie, 47, a Gamblers Anonymous member from Raleigh, describes herself as the perfect example of an on-line compulsive gambler.
Her problems began about a year and a half ago, when she began gambling on several on-line poker sites. She started by betting $50 and found she really enjoyed the gambling.
"I liked it a lot," Melanie said. "Sometimes I would win, and sometimes I would lose. I started putting more and more money into it. I got really high and really excited. It made me feel so good."
But the experience ruined her life. Before she admitted in December that she has a gambling problem, she lost about $17,000. Her husband found out and plans to leave her, she had no money to buy Christmas presents and for several months she lived a secret life, petrified by the though that someone would discover her gambling problem.
"This has ruined my life," she said. "I was living in my own secret world. If I wasn't playing online poker, I was thinking about playing, or I was trying to shuffle money around so I could afford to play. The last six months were torture. I kept secrets and lied. I lived in paralyzing fear that my husband or someone else would find out about my gambling."
Melanie wants people to know her story and to be careful with online gambling. It can become addictive without warning, she said.
"I had played cards before at casinos and never had a problem," Melanie said. "I never dreamed I could become addicted. I just became overwhelmed right away with on-line poker. I'm not sure why."
Online illegal everywhere
An estimate by the federal General Accounting Office puts the amount waged online in 2003 at $4 billion. By the end of 2004, that figure was expected to jump to $6.3 billion.
But while North Carolina has no law specifically banning online gambling, the practice is illegal here based on general gambling statutes, an expert on criminal law at the Institute of Government in Chapel Hill said.
"Betting on a game of chance is illegal in North Carolina, whether it takes place on a casino Web site or physically in a home in Kinston," attorney Robert Farb said. "There is no difference. Gambling is gambling."
Farb added that online gamblers can be prosecuted if they gamble from anywhere in North Carolina, but developing a criminal case is always difficult. Anyone operating an Internet gambling site in the state is also violating state law, he said, and is subject to prosecution.
North Carolina is not the only state where online gambling is illegal. Internet gambling is illegal for Americans under the federal 1961 Wire Wager Act, which prohibits the use of phone lines for placing sports bets.
But U.S. law enforcement officials are usually stalled in their efforts to shut down gambling Web sites. The sites are legal in other countries, and are usually based off-shore outside U.S. jurisdiction.
William McKinney, a spokesman for the N.C. Attorney General's Office, said there is no way to know exactly how many North Carolinians gamble online. He also said there is no easy way to determine if any sites are being operated illegally within the state.
McKinney added that his office seldom gets involved with online gambling cases. It is the county district attorneys, he said, who are usually responsible for prosecuting cases of alleged illegal gambling.
Internet gambling "alarming"
Imelda Pate, assistant district attorney for Lenoir County, has never prosecuted an online gambling case. Under state law, she said, on-line gambling is considered a Class 2 misdemeanor with a penalty of up to 60 days in jail and a possible fine levied at the judge's discretion.
According to a March 2000 report by the President's Working Group on Unlawful Conduct on the Internet, the Internet's rapid growth of Internet gambling is "alarming and has caused several problems for federal, state, tribal and local governments in the enforcement of gambling laws."
The report describes the Internet as being attractive to organized crime groups that operate gambling businesses.
"It allows virtually instantaneous and anonymous communications that can be difficult to trace to any individual or organization," the report reads. "There is also the possibility of abuse by unscrupulous gambling operators."
Also, the report points to the anonymous nature of the Internet as an invitation for minors to gamble, and notes that easy access any time of the day to Web gambling can present a great danger to compulsive gamblers.
Luring young people?
The rapidly growing number of on-line gambling sites reportedly is causing more Americans to turn to gambling as a means of entertainment. Anti-gambling activists fear that the sites are especially targeting young people, who are comfortable with computers, and individuals who would rather gamble from the privacy of their homes than travel to a casino. Women, as well as men, are becoming avid online gamblers, and experts in human behavior warn that online gambling can be addictive.
Greg Gridley, a clinical psychologist in Kinston, has had clients seeking help to overcome online gambling addictions.
"On-line gambling does get addictive," he said. "People find it interesting, it can be done from one's home, and it is easily accessible."
Gridley said the addiction to on-line gambling does not discriminate by gender, social or economic class, or age.
"People gamble for the thrill of it," he said. "If it works, and they win, the intermittent reinforcement keeps the bad behavior going."
Bob K., a Gamblers Anonymous member from Chapel Hill, said that about one third of compulsive gambling is now done online. He estimates there are about 2,000 compulsive on-line gamblers in North Carolina.
"The feeling you get from on-line gambling is like that of someone who is at a casino," Bob said. "It is a case where the gambler feels he is control. Online, the gambling can be done in the privacy of the home and no one knows that you are destroying yourself and everyone else."
Bob said that at first on-line gambling, like other forms of gambling, is pleasurable. Once the line is crossed, and the gambling is out of control, the addiction can lead to broken marriages, financial ruin, depression, jail time, and in some cases suicide.
A member of Gamblers Anonymous for 35 years, Bob believes the increase in on-line gambling is leading people toward becoming compulsive gamblers at a younger age.
"Everyone has a computer," he said. "People are getting hooked on gambling at a younger age."
kinston.com
