iGaming Dangers Would be Averted by Regulation

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Friday, April 21st, 2017 | Written by Shane Larson

Players who subscribe to unregulated, offshore and online poker sites, sportsbooks and casinos place themselves at the mercy of such operators, as these sites conduct their work from safe havens offshore that cannot be touched by the laws of the United States. Case in point, since the internet has become a prominent source of gambling, many of these sites have been involved in cheating scandals and snaked customers out of their money.

North Korean Operators

According to a New York Times report, the problems that these sorts of sites cause are not just the fault of underhanded business practices and lenient customer protections. According to the news outlet, young North Korean hackers jump at the opportunity of setting up sites and working overseas because North Koreans otherwise have an unlikely chance of ever leaving their isolated nation. As long as these North Korean hackers are complying with the targets set by their officiating government, they can therefore live abroad and run online gambling sites illegally in order to gain profits that can then be shared with their superiors.

Flourishing Black Market

It is not unlikely for a person to assume that there might be a few of these North Korean gambling sites currently operating in the United States. As most of the individual US states desire to keep online gambling illegal, it has driven the creation of a flourishing black market across the country of 319 million people. This raises concern that offshore sites could easily disappear without a word and take its consumers’ money when it goes, or that the sites may simply be manipulating the odds of winning, or just plain cheating its customers. The idea that hackers from North Korea are behind some of these instances should make it obvious that this industry needs regulation, as this is the only way to stop this madness.

For each day that lawmakers do not act on an online gambling law, customers risk being defrauded, being a victim of identity theft, having their personal information auctioned off, or unwillingly helping hackers that attempt to breach the security of the nation.

Bad Business Practices

Outside of hackers, customers have trusted a number of other sites to take care of their money and have been let down by bad business and bad management. One prime example is provided by the situation that occurred at Absolute Poker and Ultimate bet in which employees managed to gain access to software with backdoors, thereby letting those on the inside cheat the players by being able to see their hole cards. Even after people proved this was happening, the scandal continued due to lack of regulation until the company got sold.

The Department of Justice later announced indictments that went after the man responsible for these cheats, but it was revealed that he was still an owner of one of the sites, even after the fact. While customers had been assuming that the fraud was gone, and that the company had gained control over its situation, it all turned out to be lies. In the end, the gamblers are the ones who suffered, as the sites went under and their account balances never got paid. These are just a few reasons that legalization and regulation in the United States are a must.

AG Sessions May Implement Federal Ban

At a time when the US should be looking to further encourage regulation across the country in order to draw people away from unlicensed overseas operators, rumors are currently circulation that US Attorney General Jeff Sessions may be looking to go in the opposite direction by implementing a federal ban on online gambling.

The news story first broke on industry information outlet Gambling Compliance, with further concern raised following the revelation that Sheldon Adelson had donated several million dollars to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, as well as to the Senate Leadership Fund, just before it introduced another version of the Restoration of America’s Wire Act (RAWA) to the Senate. During his AG confirmation hearing, Sessions also mentioned that he might consider revisiting the 2011 Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel that paved the way for online gambling across the US, and as he stated at the time:

“Apparently, there is some justification or argument that can be made to support the Department of Justice’s [2011] position, but I did oppose it when it happened and it seemed to me to be unusual. I would revisit it and I will make a decision on it based on careful study.”

Whether Sessions would have any success undertaking such an unpopular move, however, is debatable, and in fact may ultimately end up backfiring on Adelson and his cronies.