betting on sports

Richard Stoltz has no reason to use the Internet to bet on sports.
As a 27-year old senior at the University of Nevada, Stoltz needs to walk no further than the downtown Reno sports books to get his sports gambling fix.
"I place bets throughout mostly college football and the (National Football League) and throughout that season," he said. "I usually bet consistently week to week."
Not that this was always the case. Before he transferred to Nevada, Stoltz attended Boise State. If people in Idaho wanted a piece of the sports betting action, they had two choices: head out of state or head to the Internet.
Although Stoltz never placed a bet online, he knows of students at Boise State who regularly ventured to the web to gamble on sporting events. He also knows of the risk involved with that decision.
Online gambling sites generally make every better open an account, similar to a financial account that someone would have with a bank. The sites have a minimum balance that gamblers need to have in their accounts, and that quota is filled with a credit card.
"It would be like people who are hesitant to put credit card information online," Stoltz said. "And as far as buying a product online, you never know who has access to that number.
"Just the fact that I could go down and put ten bucks on a three team parlay, that's all I have to have, as opposed to putting a couple hundred dollars in to open up an initial bet."
The uncertainty of online sports gambling works as a red flag for many people.
Is Internet sports gambling legal? If so, are the rules the same everywhere? People continue to look for answers to the questions surrounding Internet gambling.
In 1961, Congress passed the Federal Wire Act, prohibiting the use of phone lines to make or accept sports bets. The United States Attorneys office argues that the act should apply to online gambling since the Internet is set up through the use of phone lines.
The United States District Court in Manhattan found Jay Cohen, president of World Sports Exchange, guilty of illegal gambling in 1998 based on the Federal Wire Act.
The judge in Cohan's trial would not allow a subsection of the Wire Act that would have acted on the defendant's behalf. The law says that a phone bet can be placed in a location where gambling is legal. The subsection also says that the bet can be received without penalty if sent to an area where the act is legal. Cohan's site is operated from Antigua and is license-protected to offer online betting. Cohen was accused of wrongdoing after Federal agents tried out his site in New York, where betting on sports is not a crime.
Benjamin Brafman, Cohan's attorney, is not sure if the subsection was not applied in his client's case because the part of the Wire Act that they speak of came into play "long before the Internet was even contemplated, much less available," (Gallagher, Tough Fight Ahead for Operator of Sports Betting Site). Since Congress is trying to amend the Wire Act to specifically clarify where the Internet stands in the subsection, Brafman said that it would not be right to question the law in the case.
Cohan's defense is that his customers held accounts at the World Sports Exchange's headquarters. Since the firm is based in Antigua, Cohen argues that all the gambling that took place did so in that legal jurisdiction. He compares it to "setting up an account in an authorized offshore track betting outlet in New York and then making bets all over the phone while traveling out of the state," (Gallagher, Tough Fight Ahead for Operator of Sports Betting Site).
Does the Wire Act make online gambling legal? Ira Rothken does not think so. The technology lawyer out of San Rafael, Calif. doesn't buy into the if it isn't stated, it isn't law claim.
"I don't think you need have the word 'Internet' written into a statute to be able to prosecute people under traditional law," he told the Cyber Law Journal.
On the Web Cyber Law Journal The debate continues to rage on about the legality of sports gambling and it shows no signs of lessening in the near future. Even if the parameters of online sports betting were to become more distinct, don't expect to see Richard Stoltz placing bets anywhere but in the sports books. To him, that is the only safe bet.