Tuesday July 29, 1997 [1]ImageMap LA Fitness Web gaming is 'ripe for fraud' _________________________________________________________________ By Patrick Wilson Washington Bureau _________________________________________________________________ WASHINGTON - Two senators toured Internet gambling sites Monday as they listened to warnings the growing online casino industry could be ripe for corruption and consumer fraud. Sens. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., and Richard Bryan, D-Nev., looked on as Wisconsin Attorney General Jim Doyle presented what he characterized as questionable Web gambling sites. Doyle appeared before a Senate technology subcommittee studying a bill by Kyl to ban gaming on the World Wide Web. Doyle said Web gaming has grown from a "sleeping giant" to a developed industry that must be stopped. To demonstrate how easy it is to gamble online, he played a videotaped sample of online casinos such as the "Golden Palace," where Web surfers can use credit cards to play craps, keno, slots and blackjack, among other games. Doyle noted the Internet gambling industry even has its own online newsletter, "Rolling Good Times," which now is conducting an online poll where people can bet - for fun - on whether Congress will pass Kyl's bill. "Who knows what's on the other end of this screen?" Doyle said. "Who knows if those cards are fair? Who knows whether organized criminal activity is involved?" Bryan said he has "no confidence whatsoever that gaming on the Internet can be regulated now or at any time in the future." "Unlike the heavily regulated casinos in Nevada, Internet wagering is unregulated, and since many of these sites operate off-shore it is beyond the reach of U.S. authorities," he said. "Such a scenario is ripe for consumer fraud." Web gambling is catching on rapidly, with one estimate reporting 25 gaming sites and 100 more in the works. Bryan called Internet betting "something that's kind of mushroomed." Internet users can gamble online with a credit card or by setting up an account. There is no way to stop children from gambling on the information superhighway, say supporters of the Kyl bill. "Bringing gaming directly into people's homes, as we are beginning to see through the Internet, is so full of potential problems and so far beyond the ability of any state to regulate that despite whatever business potential it may have it needs to be prohibited on a national level," Bryan said. Kyl's bill, backed by the National Association of Attorneys General, would punish those who set up Internet gaming Web sites with a fine of up to $10,000, two years in prison or both. Those who made an online wager would face one year in prison and a $5,000 fine. [2]| Top of page | References 1. LYNXIMGMAP:http://www.dailybulletin.com/news/7-29_b8_EXTRA_Internet.html#navbar 2. http://www.dailybulletin.com/news/7-29_b8_EXTRA_Internet.html#a