Government Regualtion and Internet Gambling
Online Gambling
Feb 3, 2001, 10:37
By Gambling Online Magazine http://www.gamblingonlinemagazine.com
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What do players know about various Internet gambling licensing jurisdictions and legality of Internet gambling? Unlike when traveling to Las Vegas to partake in gambling within the confines of a brick and mortar venue, jurisdictional boundaries for interactive gambling become irrelevant and are obscured by the medium of delivery. A player's choice, even more so than with terrestrial forms of gambling, is made based upon the player's past experiences and the credibility of the casinos "brand" name rather than by reputation of the licensing jurisdiction. But, a player should also consider checking whether an Internet gambling site has a license to operate from an established licensing jurisdiction and the legalities of Internet gambling in their home area before risking their hard earned money. Take a step back and think about the options available to governments for dealing with the explosive growth of gambling on the Internet. While there are variations, governments are left with three basic alternatives:
The Ban: Government can place an outright ban on Internet gambling as a means to stop the increasing growth of the industry.
Wait-and-See: Governments can simply do nothing or adopt a wait-and-see approach by ignoring the proliferation of Internet gaming.
Regulate and Tax: Government can implement a regulatory scheme to protect consumers as well as to monitor and tax Internet gambling.
In the United States, for instance, the federal government has continuously tried, mostly through the efforts of Seneator Jon Kyl (R-Arizona) and Representative Bob Goodlatte (R-Virginia), to ban Internet gaming through legislation, specifically the Internet Gambling Prohibition Act. The legislation has been debated in Congress for at least the last three years, and a tangible outcome has yet to be realized. Additionally, the current legislation does not criminalize the act of gambling on the Internet, but rather criminalizes the act of providing the games by the operator. Many countries and governments throughout the world take an opposite view on Internet gambling and have established regulatory regimes to control legitimized games played on the Internet. It is a question of whether to regulate the content or to regulate those using the product. In Britain, players are free to gamble at online websites as long as the site is operated outside of the country. And, just the opposite is true in Austria, where Austrian players can gamble on the Internet, as long as the site is operated within the country's boundaries. Some jurisdictions, such as in Australia work on the premise that all forms of gambling are inherently illegal unless specifically permitted by enabling legislation.
As many players know, many Internet gambling companies currently operate out of the Caribbean and Central American nations, including Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, Curacao, Costa Rica, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Jamaica, and St.Kitts and Nevis. This area is perceived as the birthplace of the interactive gambling industry. While specifics of each jurisdictions regulatory schemes differ (and specific information is difficult to locate), many Caribbean countries, most recently Antigua, are seeking to become more respectable in order to increase confidence with potential operators and gamblers. The operator's perception is that it is easier and cheaper to obtain a license from these jurisdictions than it is from European and Antipodean nations. However, what players may not know is that many Caribbean jurisdictions have tighter regulations for online casinos than do some "1st world" countries.
When deciding wheher to play with a specific Internet casino there is a lot of information to consider, and checking whether a site is licensed in an Internet gambling jurisdiction should be one of the first steps. While checking an Internet casino's license should not be the only consideration, it sure is an important one.
The Interactive Gaming Council www.igcouncil.org is a not-for-profit trade association that advocates for government regulation of Internet gambling. Our member operators are required to be licensed to conduct their activities from within the licensing jurisdiction and also abide by the IGC Code of Conduct, a copy of which can be found on the IGC web site. The IGC position is that it is difficult, if not impossible, to stop an individual's access to the content on the internet, so a better position (for consumer protection) would be to establish strict government regulation for Internet operators.
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