Gaming Giants Still Can't Make Up Their Mind On Internet Gambling

from the wanna-bet? dept

The American Gaming Association, the casino industry's biggest trade group, is struggling to reach a consensus on internet betting, as its members take up divergent viewpoints. Some casino companies support federal regulation for it, while others want states to be able to regulate it (though maybe not Kentucky); others, of course, want to see the blanket ban continue, fearful of anything that might let new competitors in to the market. The AGA's latest approach appears to be to support legislation to study whether to legalize online betting -- which, we're pretty sure, sounds about as wishy-washy as could be.

The facts surrounding online gambling in the US are already pretty clear: previous legislative efforts may have reduced online gambling, but they've also driven American bettors to largely unregulated services and forced them to use some other often-shady services to fund their activities -- since US banks are given the responsibility to stop gambling sites' funding. The result is that gamblers keep up the same activity they were doing before, but are now exposed to more danger and risk, while US authorities are missing out on the chance to collect some taxes. This still seems pretty irresponsible, since gaming regulators in mature markets would argue that driving consumers into unregulated territory where they're not protected by laws and rules governing casinos isn't a great idea.

Meanwhile, the AGA's waffling isn't a surprise, since many of its members hate to see new competition in any form. But existing casino operators are, arguably, better placed than anyone to compete in new, highly regulated markets that don't require huge capital outlays on the scale of expensive new properties. Also, it's hard to understand how more competition for gambling dollars could hurt consumers, when competition might actually deliver them a number of significant benefits, particularly over gray-market services of questionable legality.

Carlo Longino is an expert at the Insight Community. To get insight and analysis from Carlo Longino and other experts on challenges your company faces, click here.

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New Massachusetts Law Would Open New Casinos While Throwing Online Gamblers In Jail

from the place-yer-bets dept

Sometimes it's impossible not to be cynical about the political process and what's really going on behind the scenes. Sure, people will often ascribe the worst motives to various politicians when other reasons may be more accurate, but it's difficult to see how Massachusett's governor Deval Patrick can put forth this new bill on gambling with a straight face. It pushes for the opening of three new casinos in the state, while simultaneously banning online gambling (which the federal government is already working on). Federal attempts at banning online gambling, however, have focused on stopping credit card processing and stopping the casinos themselves. Patrick's bill actually goes against the gamblers -- threatening them with up to two years in jail and $25,000 in fines. It's difficult to see how this bill can be seen as anything but a plan to try to squeeze more money out of the new casinos by making licenses a lot more valuable by totally banning the competition.

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Yet Another Casino Yanks Jackpot Prize, Claiming Faulty Software

from the unlucky-sevens dept

Apparently faulty slot machines that always seem to malfunction when someone wins big are becoming more popular at casinos -- and they're now not awarding larger sums. Last year, we wrote about two guys in Canada who thought they had won $209,000 using a slot machine, only to be told that they didn't win and it was all a computer glitch. Earlier this year there was a similar story of a man apparently not winning $102,000 at a new casino in Pennsylvania. In that case, the negative press coverage convinced the casino to pay up. The latest such case takes place at the Sandia Resort and Casino in New Mexico, where a guy was told that his $1.6 million slot machine win was actually a computer malfunction. He's suing, but he might not have much of a case -- especially since the casino is on an Indian reservation, and not subject to the US court system. Also, in this case, it's a little more reasonable to understand why the guy might not have a strong case: apparently the machine clearly stated that the payouts were limited to $2,500. Still, it makes you wonder: for all these slot machines with faulty software that's suddenly discovered after people win... what happens when machines screw up the other way? Somehow, we doubt that the casinos call them up to a room in the back (as always seems to happen in these cases) and tells them the machine screwed up and they actually won.

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Criminal Charges For Using A Slot Machine With Faulty Software?

from the could-happen dept

We've had a few stories over the years of casinos refusing to give out slot machine prizes claiming software glitches on the slot machines. But how about charging people with a crime for using a slot machine with faulty software? Slashdot points us to a story about prosecutors debating whether or not to charge a bunch of people with criminal charges for using a slot machine that incorrectly credited every $1 as if it were $10. Now, clearly, the maker of the slot machine and the casino itself need to take some of the blame here, but prosecutors are saying (correctly) that if people knew the slot machine was doing this and used it on purpose for that reason, that's fraud. Even if that may be correct from a legal standpoint, it still looks bad. Caesars and the slot machine company should have tested the machine, and either way, charging people for criminal behavior for simply using your faulty machines can't be good for publicity.

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