The Right to Gamble Online in America

Study finds an enormous growth in poker and online gambling in young people

Gambling has become a major source of entertainment for Americans with Las Vegas regarded as a premier vacation destination and nearly all states now allowing or sponsoring a variety of legal gambling opportunities.  There has also been a recent boom in televised poker tournaments with large audiences of young people learning to play the latest versions of this game. 

Despite the dramatic growth of this business, gambling on the web remains a contentious issue.  The federal government maintains that use of the web for placing bets violates laws that prohibit the use of interstate communication media for gambling purposes.  As a result, all of the gambling websites originate from offshore in the Caribbean or in exotic locations such as the Isle of Gibraltar.  Although outside of the federal government’s jurisdiction, these sites draw many visitors from the U.S., and web-based gambling, especially online poker, has become a multi-billion dollar international business.

One of the more compelling arguments against allowing online gambling is that, unlike land-based casinos such as the ones in Las Vegas, it is very difficult to exclude young people from using gambling websites.  Just as the states control the sales of liquor and cigarettes, they also have an interest in preventing access to gambling by young people.  Unless gamblers control their spending, they can find themselves in debt without any means to cover their losses.  Gambling can also be addictive for some people, just as alcohol and tobacco can be subject to abuse.  States see it in their interest to control access to such potentially hazardous activities and to prohibit young people from engaging in them. 

This all raises the question:  How should the U. S. treat online gambling?  Should it attempt to strengthen existing laws so that online gambling continues to be illegal?  Or, should it face up to the inevitability that this form of gambling will only continue to grow and, as a result, permit online gambling?  If it did decide to permit online gambling, should it attempt to control access so that young people are restricted from using the sites, much as land-based casinos do?   These are difficult questions with no easy answers.  The sites below will give you some background and viewpoints, both pro and con, regarding the best way to proceed. 

You might want to start with a report released by our policy center on the prevalence of gambling among young people ages 14 to 22 and the problems that are associated with it.  We have been tracking gambling activity in young people since 2002 and have witnessed the enormous growth in poker and online gambling since that time.

[Annenberg Public Policy Center press release]

See how some members of Congress have proposed to control online gambling by persons of all ages, especially for such games as poker, by preventing the use of credit cards or other bank related devices to pay for gambling transactions.  US Senate Policy Committee background report on Internet gambling to support Senator Jon Kyl’s Bill.  A similar bill was introduced this year in the House.

http://www.ncalg.org/Library/Kyl_Internet.pdf

A good basic introduction to how Internet gambling operates is contained in this legal review of the problem. Also includes a description of state and federal laws pertaining to the control of online gambling as well as possible solutions to controlling it. (1998).

http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/iclp/alessani.html

A pro-legalization viewpoint from a business perspective can be found at this site.  E-Commerce News: Legal questions in advertising for online gambling.

http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/42696.html

Facts about Gambling and Addiction: A collection of reports and literature on gambling compiled by The National Coalition Against Legalized Gambling.

[NCALG: Facts About Gambling and Addiction]

A scientific review of the effects of gambling was released in 1998.  The National Gambling Impact Study Commission Final Report has lots of valuable information about the spread of gambling in the U.S. and problems associated with this recent development.

http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/ngisc/reports/fullrpt.html

To see how another country plans to deal with online and other forms of gambling, see:  A guide to the UK’s Gambling Commission, including their objectives and approaches to regulate Internet gambling. (2005).

http://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/UploadDocs/publications/Document/Introductory%20guide.pdf

BBC 2005 broadcast investigating the global boom in gambling. Four part series, all programs available for listening in RealPlayer.  The segment on Internet gambling (Part 3) is particularly relevant to this discussion.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/documentary_archive/4173698.stm