internet gambling...legal or illegal?

blueedwards · Feb 16, 2006

if its illegal, then why do i hear about 5 commercials per day during football season on sportstalk radio touting betonsports.com? if its illegal, then why does espn's coverage of the world series of poker say "over 1/2 of the field qualified for this tournament via satellite tournaments on the internet"?

why dont the feds go to the wsop and arrest 1/2 of the field? why doesnt the fcc shut down the betonsports ads?

Whoson1st · Feb 16, 2006

And why does the DRF (online edition) have ads for Sportsbooks offshore?

tooran · Feb 16, 2006

Make it legal, but don't let them advertise in the mainstream (like tobacco co's can't)

That way, government receives their healthy Stupid Tax, we benefit by getting semi-confidence in government regulated/monitored odds (for online casinos and similar garbage), and this issue goes away. At least until the fight for revenue shares begin. Ask Arnie and the California Indian casinos about that one.

randyrohm · Feb 17, 2006

If the high profile Gretzky wife doesn't get prosecuted for making huge wagers with an illegal book, why would anyone ever get prosecuted for making quasilegal wagers via the net? Correct me if I am wrong, won't the next person prosecuted for betting be the first?

heatohio · Feb 17, 2006

There was just a story on 20/20 or somthing like that talking about this. I guess that commercials, at least the poker commercials, are for non betting websites. They will advertise goldenpalace.NET and say "learn" to play and this draws people to the real site where you can gamble. (I just made up goldenpalace.net incase anyone plans on saying it does not exist)

WildBill · Feb 17, 2006

Because what is illegal is the act of betting and it could occur in a legal setting. Of course that would require you to go to another country to place the bet, but it is a technicality that has to be acknowledged. The US Supreme Court said casinos could advertise outside their home state as long as the activity was legal somewhere. After all it is well known New Jersey has no TV stations, yet its hard to miss the AC commercials all over the East Coast. The law protects that.