The Hill – Billionaire casino magnate Sheldon Adelson is not known for modesty. So it was fitting the recent announcement of his plans to push for a federal online gambling ban is making headlines. Adelson, who said his “moral standards” compelled him to act, is launching an advocacy group, the Coalition To Stop Internet Gambling, to portray the activity as a threat to vulnerable populations such as low-income players and minors. Not only is he wrong, but his proposed ban would cause harm to the very groups he claims to want to protect.
Legalization of US online gambling is gaining ground nationwide. By year’s end, three states will have legalized it. Online gambling opponents cite concerns about crime, problem gamblers and access to gambling by minors. Yet, plenty of research and real-world experience indicate such concerns are overblown.
If online gambling is criminalized, Americans are not likely to give up playing. Instead, as we saw after the Department of Justice’s online gambling crack-down in 2011, players simply will move over to illegal, foreign-operated platforms where crime is far more likely to occur and holding offenders accountable is difficult if not impossible. Yet, in a market with licensed online platforms operating under U.S. oversight, identifying fraud and tracking perpetrators would be relatively simple because of the digital trail left behind.
Online gambling opponents point to a handful of cases of cheating on Internet poker sites, but such crimes aren’t limited to online play. A quick online search will turn up dozens of cases of fraud at real-world casinos, including employees stealing players’ identities, and even high-tech crimes such as the Australian man who stole more than $33 million by hacking into a casino’s security cameras to spy on other players’ cards.
Opponents also argue legalized gambling will increase pathological gambling, but Americans already can access online gambling sites from anywhere in the country, 24 hours a day. Despite the current de facto ban, Americans spent $2.6 billion at illegal offshore gaming websites in 2012, according to the American Gaming Association.
Moreover, the rate of problem gambling in the U.S. is around 1 percent of the population, a rate that has remained relatively stable for more than 30 years, despite the growth of online and many other forms of gambling. According to a 2009 Harvard Kennedy School of Government study, not only is legalized online gambling unlikely to lead to increased rates of addiction, it could make it easier for online gambling firms to address problem gambling by using software to spot patterns, set limits on time and money spent and direct users with potential problems toward online assistance.
