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Our
resident online sportsbooks & offshore sportsbetting
gambling expert, James Johnson, weighs in with his
articles on the status of the online gambling industry
and online sportsbooks. Be sure to check WagerOnFootball.com
every week for his next bit of amazing insight on
the world of offshore and online gambling. This
man knows gambling! This man knows his way around
a few sportsbooks too!!!!
Offshore Sportsbetting - Online
Casino Gambling
It seems strange to say this, but placing an online
bet shouldn't be a gamble.
But futile U.S. efforts to prohibit wagering on
the Internet are making it so -- even as they do
relatively little to stem the amounts being bet
online.
Most online gambling operations are legitimate.
But by forcing online betting off shore, the federal
government has left millions of Americans with few
protections from unscrupulous operators. And some
foreign sites have been unwilling to pay up when
big bets go against them. That's the lesson learned
the hard way by group of upstate New York horse
owners and players.
Back in April, they decided to put a big bet on
their horse, He's Vivid. The group wagered a total
of $23,725 on their horse through straight, exacta
and daily double bets in the race at Finger Lakes
Race Track near Rochester, N.Y.
Since Fingers Lakes is a small track, the bettors
knew putting so much money into play there would
shift the odds to near-even money, rather than long-shot
odds they could expect.
So they went to a series of 22 offshore gambling
operations, many which advertise in U.S. horse racing
newspapers. When the horse came in, only eight paid
in full immediately, while another two eventually
paid in full.
Some sites challenged the results of the race, which
was cleared by track officials after an investigation.
Other sites claimed that the gamblers had violated
rules, or needed to wager even more in order to
collect their winnings.
"When we made the wager, we felt we were doing
business with reputable companies, even though we
realized they weren't covered by U.S. laws,"
said Joe Marcoccia, one of the group. "We felt
quite safe."
The rest have paid only some or none of the winnings,
and the gamblers estimate only about a third of
$300,000 in all has been paid
Push for legalization
Critics of online gaming would likely say the bettors'
problems are an argument for continued prohibition.
But executives in the online gambling industry argue
that Marcoccia's experience illustrates the need
for legalization and proper oversight.
"In 1994, I said, 'Internet gambling is no
good and we have to stop it,'" said Frank Catania,
the former director of the New Jersey Division of
Gaming Enforcement. "But when I had attorneys
look into it, I came to the opinion that Internet
gambling is not going to be stopped."
Catania, who now works as a consultant to the industry,
believes that legalizing online sports wagering
and gambling should be handled at the state level.
Others would prefer to see federal legislation.
Another avenue might be through the World Trade
Organization, which regulates trade between nations.
The tiny Caribbean nation of Antigua and Barbuda
won a preliminary round in the WTO against the United
States this spring. If ongoing dispute-resolution
talks fail, the WTO could impose trade sanctions
on the United States.
Some doubt that Antigua and Barbuda has the clout
to force a change of U.S. law, even with the WTO
behind it. But a win by that nation could open the
way for other, bigger nations, including the United
Kingdom, to push for changes.
In the end, it may be the business case for online
gambling that leads to legalization here. "It
seems bizarre to me that the United States would
sit on its hands and let the United Kingdom get
a competitive advantage," said Tommy Yung,
one of the bookies at MySportsbook.com (our sponsor),
an online sports book with operations in Costa Rica
that gets the majority of its business from U.S.
gamblers.
"This could be the home of online gambling
for the world," he said during his trip to
New York this week, where he met with other industry
officials interested in legalization. But opposition
to online gambling is a safer position for most
politicians to hold, and prohibition has wide support
in Congress.
The professional sports leagues and the NCAA would
fight hard any legalization of online sports wagering.
Many governors worry about a drop in lottery and
casino revenue.
So despite the business and public policy arguments
in favor of it, I think legalization of online gambling
is a long shot.
And that means that online wagering is going to
remain even more of a gamble than it should be.
But in my honest opinion that is ridiculous. If
someone wants to lay a wager you don’t see
the MGM telling them to go away. Why does the US
government keep getting in the way?
As always Check out my picks
for the best offshore sportsbetting Sportsbooks
and Casinos Online.
NFL
Sportsbooks Ratings Guide
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