Internet Gambling

This essay will cover the subject of Internet gambling. Since this is somewhat of a new subject, my essay will include some speculation and guesswork on mine and others behalf. As of this moment the gambling industry is bigger than both the movie industry and the music industry combined. It's estimated that it grosses around $40 billion a year. Much of that goes to the government in some form or another. One of the many reasons people are starting to look toward the Internet is the fact that the companies can be based offshore and be free of taxes. The government can try to prosecute but the chances of them getting a conviction is highly unlikely, especially if they're a foreign citizen. They can only seize their assets if they step foot on American soil. Many companies are looking for ways around the laws. For example, in football, if they can get two people to bet on opposing sides, then their technically not gambling. The companies would only take 2.5% of the action. They would act as a middle man of sorts. On the security side, one company has started making personal card readers that they send to your house and you hook it up to your computer. The only reason gambling laws exist are so politicians and government officials can make more money. It's all about power and control.

Many people still fear gambling on the Internet because of safety issues. They fear a hacker might break in and just keep letting himself win. Companies fear the Internet because they might come in too late and saturate the market with Internet gambling companies. It could become the same thing as what happened to Atlantic City. The companies that run the gambling can also cheat by writing in the programs to deal more 21's to the house. The governments biggest fear is that the technology has outgrown the regulations.

Some of the other new ways that companies are going to try to use the Internet are through interactive t.v. Home viewers can bet on live horse races through an interactive cable system that will be monitored by their computers. Their remote control can do it all. People wont even have to get up. Many experts fear that this may cause young people to become addicted to gambling early on. The Internet will make it easier for minors to make bets on everything from sports, to craps.

In gambling you may win, but even then your still losing something to the house. They always have a way of making money. In roulette, for instance, players can bet on black or red, but the house has green and the odds of the ball landing on green makes up for the fifty/fifty chances that you thought you had. In gambling, as with all businesses, the companies can go belly up and not pay the winners anything. That's one of the main problems with Internet gambling. Since it's unregulated, a company could theoretically just pack up and leave.

All this leads to the fact that it could be inevitable that cyberspace becomes the next frontier that's paved with gambling dollars. If so, it seems likely that gambling on the Net won't simply be contained to traditional games, like blackjack, horse races, or football. Perhaps the day will soon come when people can sit in front of their computer and obtain odds on just about everything: they could compete for cash in live-action video game tournaments or wager on real- world events such as who will become the next president or where the next hurricane will hit, and how strong. All these lead to the fact that people are always going to be either for gambling or against it. We could reach the point where the public says "enough's enough," and just get rid of gambling all together, but I seriously doubt that will ever happen.