“Sixty Minutes” Highlights Need For Online Gambling Legislation 

Gambling News - June 29, 2009 - Written by Renee

A rerun of the television report “Sixty Minutes” on Sunday June 28 highlighted that under the existing scenario online players can get cheated by unscrupulous online casinos and have no legal recourse. The show, which was originally broadcast late last year, was put together by the Washington Post. It covers the events leading up to the scandals related to the Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet online gambling scandals. In those scandals the software running the online gambling had been tampered with and players lost about $20 million as a result.

The current owners and the licensors, the Kahnawake Gaming Commission, blamed the previous owners. It is claimed that those who lost their money were compensated. But what is worrying the online gambling industry is that there was no police investigation, that no one was charged and punished and that the alleged perpetrators are moving around in society with impunity. 

The same conditions exist even today. As a result of the exposure given to the scandal on “Sixty Minutes” there was a wave of outrage against the UIGEA and for the bill that Frank had introduced last year. Unfortunately because of the election year that bill could not go through. The online gambling industry is hoping that repeated rebroadcasts of the program will keep the pressure for online gambling regulation till Frank’s current bill comes up for hearing in September. Frank’s bill proposes legalization of online gambling and putting in place a regulatory mechanism that will address issues like player protection, problem gambling and prevention of minors from accessing online gambling sites.