Examining
Ethics
The Online
Gambling Dilemma
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1) Online Gambling Further Confuses the Issue of Legality - Online gambling blurs the line even further between legal and illegal gambling. Confusion reigns from state to state when it comes to gambling. 48 states have some form of legalized gambling—including lotteries, race tracks and casino games, but little consistency exists in gambling laws.
Consider that North Carolina has no legal state lottery, but each year thousands of North Carolinians cross the state line to Virginia to wager on Powerball. Consider that many states (such as North Carolina and Connecticut) have outlawed casino gambling, but then have made them legal on reservations. In fact, Foxwoods—the largest casino in the world—was built on the reservation of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation. Additionally, consider the inconsistency of gambling laws in New York where betting with a bookie is not illegal, but bookmaking itself is.
2) Online Gambling Breeds Addiction - Online gambling opens a giant can of worms, in that it gives gambling access to millions of people who otherwise would not have access. One of the logical conclusions of having more gamblers is having more gambling addicts.
3) Online Gambling Promotes Fraud and Cheating - Critics claim that online gambling sites have already become a haven for hackers and con men. Most internet gamblers purchase credit online through the use of their credit cards. Skilled hackers would have mountains of credit card numbers to illegally charge to. Consumer advocate Ralph Nader supports Kyl's Anti-Gambling Bill because the Internet lacks consumer protection.
Another dilemma to online gambling is that it makes
cheating easier. While cheating obviously constitutes a breach in ethics,
it also can cost casinos millions. Casinos have thousands of cameras to
monitor cheating onsite, however it is almost impossible to monitor a player
as he bets out of his home.
2) Banning Online Gambling is Just the First Step - In Kyl's bill, online gambling is not the only target. The bill attempts to ban most of the gambling that is legal now in most states, including the lottery and church bingo. Once an initial ban is made, subsequent bans will be easier and easier to pass.
3) Cracking Down May Scare off the Legitimate Casinos
- In an interview with The National Law Journal in 1997, Wisconsin Attorney
General James Doyle said that regulation may actually be counterproductive.
Many legitimate casino operators are still waiting for the legal dust to
settle before entering the online market. They don't want to endanger their
traditional casino licenses.