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U.S. Now Says All Online Gambling Illegal, Not Just Sports Bets

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31–40 of 164 posts

Re: U.S. Now Says All Online Gambling Illegal, Not Just Sports Bets

#31
I've been thinking of running a periodic contest in my MMO game. The one who can camp out for at least a minimum time span, the furthest out in space will win a prize. (Space, in the as-yet unimplemented design, would get deadlier by the square of distance from home base at coordinate 0,0) Prize entrants have to pay something like $1 and completely eschew non-cosmetic in-game purchases.

How would the law distinguish something like that from "a game of chance?"

Re: U.S. Now Says All Online Gambling Illegal, Not Just Sports Bets

#33

I've been thinking of running a periodic contest in my MMO game. The one who can camp out for at least a minimum time span, the furthest out in space will win a prize. (Space, in the as-yet unimplemented design, would get deadlier by the square of distance from home base at coordinate 0,0) Prize entrants have to pay something like $1 and completely eschew non-cosmetic in-game purchases. How would the law distinguish…

Why would it?

Re: U.S. Now Says All Online Gambling Illegal, Not Just Sports Bets

#34

what about that predict it website that allows you to bet on politics? Is politics a sport?

University of Wellington (New Zealand) 'PredictIt', like the University of Iowa 'Iowa Electronic Markets', operates with the specific permission of the US federal regulatory agency (CFTC) that would otherwise regulate their tradable contracts. See for example:

https://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/PressReleases/pr7047-14

Re: U.S. Now Says All Online Gambling Illegal, Not Just Sports Bets

#35
post #29
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's splitting hairs IMHO. Lots of things we find acceptable are basically gambling like the stock/bond/futures markets, insurance, and prediction markets. Maybe a better answer is why we ban gambling at all. There are people who have a problem with it, but maybe a better solution is to get them help to break the cycle instead of banning it in some cases but not others.

I live in Australia, which has very relaxed gambling laws. I can walk into most pubs/bars in my city and find poker machines for example, as well as a sports/horse betting facility. There are huge social consequences to gambling. If you look at an entire society you have some people that will have problems with it and some people that won't. You may fall into the "won't" pile but surely society benefits if we prevent…

I live in the USA, which has very relaxed alcohol laws. I can walk into most pubs/bars in my city and find people getting extremely drunk for example, as well as a retail liquor facilities.

There are huge social consequences to drinking. If you look at an entire society you have some people that will have problems with it and some people that won't. You may fall into the "won't" pile but surely society benefits if we prevent a large number of our members from falling prey to addiction.

Re: U.S. Now Says All Online Gambling Illegal, Not Just Sports Bets

#38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is insurance not gambling?

At some point, hedging becomes gambling but of course, it's a grey line.

All of the speculation here hinges on the legal definitions of terms like "money", "credit", "bet", and "wager", which we're using as lay terms here, but which probably have well-defined contours honed by precedent.

Re: U.S. Now Says All Online Gambling Illegal, Not Just Sports Bets

#39
post #35
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in Australia, which has very relaxed gambling laws. I can walk into most pubs/bars in my city and find poker machines for example, as well as a sports/horse betting facility. There are huge social consequences to gambling. If you look at an entire society you have some people that will have problems with it and some people that won't. You may fall into the "won't" pile but surely society benefits if we prevent…

I live in the USA, which has very relaxed alcohol laws. I can walk into most pubs/bars in my city and find people getting extremely drunk for example, as well as a retail liquor facilities. There are huge social consequences to drinking. If you look at an entire society you have some people that will have problems with it and some people that won't. You may fall into the "won't" pile but surely society benefits if we…

Not sure if pro or anti

Re: U.S. Now Says All Online Gambling Illegal, Not Just Sports Bets

#40

As it may be of interest, here's the related portion of the Wire Act: Whoever being engaged in the business of betting or wagering knowingly uses a wire communication facility for the transmission in interstate or foreign commerce of bets or wagers or information assisting in the placing of bets or wagers on any sporting event or contest, or for the transmission of a wire communication which entitles the recipient to…

A better formatted way to read it for better readability: https://gist.github.com/jeremyaboyd/6012e7c0d80138f366064d69...

Except you potentially changed the meaning.

The question is about "on any sporting event or contest"

Is that "on any sporting event or sporting contest" or "on any sporting event or other contest"

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