This article is now included in a book of submissions about the legal, ethical, & moral implications of gambling. The book can be found at AMAZON.COM OR BARNES & NOBLE . The ISBN for "Gambling: Who Wins? Who Loses?" is 1591020735. My agreement with the publisher prevents full publication on the web. I have maintained an outline of the article below.
INTERNET GAMBLING REGULATION
By Michael E. Hammond
April 17, 2000
For decades, Americans have weighed the entertainment value of gambling against the social ills that seem to accompany the practice. Only recently, however, has this debate been thrust into the computer world. For only in recent times have casinos and bookmakers turned to the Internet. This business strategy has been a financial boon. Conservative estimates approximate that online casinos and bookmakers will bring in over $3 billion in annual revenue by 2002. This revenue comes from Internet sites like Intertops, Sports Interaction, and Virtual Vegas. The simple fact is that Americans are flocking to cyberspace as fast as they can to get $5, $10, or $50 down on their favorite team or to play cards or slot machines.
Internet gambling can be performed in almost all the traditional manners. The most popular types of betting are online casinos, that feature nearly every game available in physical casinos, and sports wagering. In May of 1999, there were over 250 online casino Internet sites and 139 online sports books. Through the Internet, almost anyone has the ability to wager on every major professional or amateur athletic event in the world. This ease of access, combined with the ethical stigma placed upon gambling, will inevitably lead to a myriad of federal and state regulations seeking to restrict access to these types of Web sites.
I. A TYPICAL ONLINE WAGERING EXPERIENCE
II. SHOULD INTERNET GAMBLING BE REGULATED?
III. IS INTERNET GAMBLING ALREADY ILLEGAL?
IV. INTERNATIONAL JURISDICTION
A. SUBJECT MATTER JURISDICTION
V. CONSTITUTIONAL CHALLENGES
B. COMMERCE CLAUSE
1. Federalism
VI. Practical Enforcement Problems
OBVIOUSLY, THE PRECEDING PIECE WAS PREPARED WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF A NUMBER OF OTHER WORKS. HOWEVER, IN THE TRANSFER INTO AN HTML FILE, THE FOOTNOTES AND WORKS CITED WERE DELETED. MY APOLOGIES FOR THE UNAVOIDABLE INCONVENIENCE.
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