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http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/washpost/20050317/tc_washpost/a43265_2005mar17
Online Bracketeering
Thu Mar 17,10:50 AM ET Technology – washingtonpost.com
By Robert MacMillan, washingtonpost.com Staff WriterIt’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 (news – web sites)” 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.
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 (news – web sites) 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.”
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram ran a short piece querying recovering compulsive gamblers about using the Internet to bet: “In Gamblers Anonymous groups throughout the country, and in Fort Worth/Dallas, new members come in every week, and many of them have had their addiction fueled by online sports gambling. ‘The access is so easy,’ said Chris, a member of the Fort Worth chapter. ‘When I was gambling with a bookie it was more difficult, and somewhat shameful. … But online, I justified to myself that it was OK. Otherwise I wouldn’t be able to do it. The mere
