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The first independent gambling guide to the best online
casinos!
Online Bracketeering
March 16, 2005
Washington Post: It's a shame there are no statistics out there that can
reveal how many reams of paper and gallons of ink Capitol Hill staffers
sacrifice to the altar of bracketology every March. It wouldn't
establish a direct connection to Congress's inability to ban Internet
gambling, but it sure would be interesting nonetheless.
OK, OK, I'm not being serious when I make that suggestion, but another
year of "March Madness" does more than ever to highlight the fact that
using the Internet to gamble -- already technically illegal under a 1961
law, 13 years before people even used the term "Internet" -- remains an
easy pastime for anyone who wants to press their luck.
About Random Access
Random Access is a daily column by Robert MacMillan that explores the
latest trends in technology and how they are changing daily life.
Random Access won't tell you why a new gizmo will revolutionize your ad
server. It will tell you about episodes from daily life -- exasperated
waiters who use blogs to vent about their customers, whole runs of
salmon injected with nanoparticles for individual tracking in Norwegian
fjords and the growing number of DJs who are sick of being sidelined in
favor of iPods. (Only one of these stories is fake.)
Most of what you see will be culled from news sources and blogs from
around the world, though we will supplement Random Access with original
files on the novel, unusual, bizarre and reactionary happenings in the
world of technology and society.
The online gambling industry brings in an estimated $3.7 billion to $10
billion a year for Internet operations, and represents a small but
growing portion of the $80 billion illegal sports-gambling machine in
the United States. American Internet users gamble on approximately 2,000
Web sites, according to a San Jose Mercury News article earlier this
week. The story noted: "Moments after CBS announces the NCAA Tournament
brackets, the real madness begins." As 28 million Americans drop a few
clams each into their office pools, dial-up connections and broadband
networks start buzzing with wagering activity: "In exotic locales such
as Antigua and Costa Rica, hard drives spin and phones ring as Web sites
process transaction after transaction."
In Indianapolis, all the while, NCAA officials try to remind America why
10 percent of the population is doing something not just illegal, but
immoral. The association's director of gambling activities, Bill Saum,
told the Merc "he worries that gambling jeopardizes the integrity of the
game and puts student-athletes at risk."
(The NCAA posts all sorts of legal, if not lucrative, ways to enjoy the
men's and women's tournaments, including photos, videos and other
freebies. washingtonpost.com and most other major online media feature
fun brackets for entertainment purposes only. Ahem.)
Internet gambling is barely a decade old, but it technically violates
the 1961 Wire Act, which forbids using the nation's communications
network for gambling purposes. Nevertheless, Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) and
others have tried -- and come really, really (really!) close -- but
failed to get bills to the White House that would specifically outlaw
online betting. Credit card companies often won't let their customers
pay up at online gambling sites, but the operators now use third parties
to take the money straight from the bettors' bank accounts.
Just like the offline world, the Internet's prime sports-betting events
are the Super Bowl and March Madness, the Merc explained. Why? "It's the
convenience," said Mark Balestra, vice president of publishing for the
River City Group, an industry observer, told the paper. "Serious sports
bettors are not as likely to be interested in the entertainment that
casinos offer. They just want the best price they can get."
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