Liz L.
11-16-2003, 10:09 PM
Online gaming sites sued
Sunday, November 16, 2003
By MIKE DANIELS
Courier-Post Staff
If Mike Barbee feels like playing poker, he doesn't have to go to Atlantic City. He doesn't have to organize a group of buddies on a Friday night, either.
All Barbee, 43, of Voorhees, has to do is turn on his computer. He goes to his favorite poker Web site and he's playing for money in a matter of minutes.
"Just to be able to sit in the privacy of your own home and play (is a draw)," said the computer software executive. "If you want to play an hour, you just jump online and play. If you want to play for four or five hours, you play."
Barbee is not alone. Across the country, card sharks and newcomers to the game are playing Texas hold'em, seven-card stud, Omaha, and other poker games online in growing numbers. Televised poker sparked the boom, industry experts say, and now Internet sites, casinos and television are all outlets, feeding each other's success.
But Internet poker, at least when money changes hands, is illegal in New Jersey, state officials say. And regulators have been going after online gambling operators, accusing them in part of making gambling accessible to underage bettors.
New Jersey has already sued 10 offshore Internet gambling operations. Two sites that take bets on sporting events settled with the state, agreeing not to accept bets from New Jersey residents.
No players have been targeted, but state gaming regulators warn that players are taking a risk.
"Maybe people aren't going to bang down your door to arrest you. But if you get ripped off, who are you going to turn to? There's nothing you can do," said Kerry Hand, a spokeswoman for the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement.
States have primary responsibility for enforcing gambling laws. But there are federal laws that can be used to prosecute interstate gambling operators, according to Chuck Humphrey, a Colorado attorney who specializes in gambling law.
Federal law enforcement agencies have not taken any position on whether online gamblers are acting illegally, Humphrey said.
"They haven't said it's legal to play. I can't imagine they will. But they haven't said it's illegal to play."
Online operator Vikrant Bhargava launched PartyPoker.com two years ago. It is operated from an Indian reservation outside Montreal.
In the beginning, he said, about 300 people played poker at the site on weeknights. Today, about 25,000 people play on an average night.
He credits televised poker - the Travel Channel's World Poker Tour and ESPN's World Series of Poker - for attracting many new players.
Bhargava, general manager of PartyPoker.com, said more than half the people playing at any time are playing for free. For those wagering money, he said, $3-$6 and $5-$10 are the most popular stakes.
The people who play for free bet with points or fake dollars, depending on the Web site. Even free games, however, sometimes offer tournament prizes.
In games where money is bet, the sites keep a small portion, or "rake," from each pot, just as the house does in casinos.
At UltimateBet.com, a 3-year-old poker Web site based in Antigua, the number of players has also skyrocketed, from about 200 to 300 on an average weeknight three years ago, to 7,000 on an average weeknight today.
Greg Pierson, chief executive of ieLogic in Portland, Ore., has watched the Antigua operation become his software company's biggest client.
"They've been experiencing double-digit growth every month for the last year," he said. "That's hard to keep up with."
Pierson said television coverage of poker has had an enormous effect on Internet poker.
"Poker, somehow, is becoming more and more part of popular culture," he said. "There are several commercials out lately that feature poker. Television programs are using poker now."
Online player David Karaszkiewicz, 20, of Pottstown, Pa., is one of the new players to discover Texas hold'em on the Internet. He's played poker for years but just started playing hold'em in August. He plays, about three times a week, in free online tournaments.
"I play online more, only because I don't have to get anyone, find a place, set the limits, get the chips or anything else. I double click . . . and then play until I run out of fake money. Then I refill my fake money and play again."
While he hasn't started playing for money yet, Karaszkiewicz said the law won't deter him when he turns 21.
"It all comes down to me wanting to play online because it's cheaper than going to Foxwoods or Atlantic City," he said. "The government should not restrict my rights to play a game."
Gambling addiction
Along with the rise in online gambling has been a rise in online gambling addicts, said Ed Looney, executive director of the New Jersey Council on Compulsive Gambling.
Most of the problem gamblers who have called the council place wagers at sites that take bets on sporting events, Looney said.
But he expects the number of problem gamblers finding their way to poker sites to grow.
"The World Series of Poker, which has gotten blasted all over, has juiced people up. Even recovering (Gamblers Anonymous) members are seeing it and getting juiced up," Looney said. "The more they promote this activity, the more people will get into it."
The growth of Web site traffic seems to back him up.
"Did we expect to grow this much, probably not so much so fast," Bhargava said. "But it's going to grow more. I will not be shocked if we have 100,000 people playing simultaneously in two to three years."
Barbee is not so sure.
"I think for the average person, it's a fad, that they'll get bored of losing money and then a lot of that dead money will be gone," he said.
Sunday, November 16, 2003
By MIKE DANIELS
Courier-Post Staff
If Mike Barbee feels like playing poker, he doesn't have to go to Atlantic City. He doesn't have to organize a group of buddies on a Friday night, either.
All Barbee, 43, of Voorhees, has to do is turn on his computer. He goes to his favorite poker Web site and he's playing for money in a matter of minutes.
"Just to be able to sit in the privacy of your own home and play (is a draw)," said the computer software executive. "If you want to play an hour, you just jump online and play. If you want to play for four or five hours, you play."
Barbee is not alone. Across the country, card sharks and newcomers to the game are playing Texas hold'em, seven-card stud, Omaha, and other poker games online in growing numbers. Televised poker sparked the boom, industry experts say, and now Internet sites, casinos and television are all outlets, feeding each other's success.
But Internet poker, at least when money changes hands, is illegal in New Jersey, state officials say. And regulators have been going after online gambling operators, accusing them in part of making gambling accessible to underage bettors.
New Jersey has already sued 10 offshore Internet gambling operations. Two sites that take bets on sporting events settled with the state, agreeing not to accept bets from New Jersey residents.
No players have been targeted, but state gaming regulators warn that players are taking a risk.
"Maybe people aren't going to bang down your door to arrest you. But if you get ripped off, who are you going to turn to? There's nothing you can do," said Kerry Hand, a spokeswoman for the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement.
States have primary responsibility for enforcing gambling laws. But there are federal laws that can be used to prosecute interstate gambling operators, according to Chuck Humphrey, a Colorado attorney who specializes in gambling law.
Federal law enforcement agencies have not taken any position on whether online gamblers are acting illegally, Humphrey said.
"They haven't said it's legal to play. I can't imagine they will. But they haven't said it's illegal to play."
Online operator Vikrant Bhargava launched PartyPoker.com two years ago. It is operated from an Indian reservation outside Montreal.
In the beginning, he said, about 300 people played poker at the site on weeknights. Today, about 25,000 people play on an average night.
He credits televised poker - the Travel Channel's World Poker Tour and ESPN's World Series of Poker - for attracting many new players.
Bhargava, general manager of PartyPoker.com, said more than half the people playing at any time are playing for free. For those wagering money, he said, $3-$6 and $5-$10 are the most popular stakes.
The people who play for free bet with points or fake dollars, depending on the Web site. Even free games, however, sometimes offer tournament prizes.
In games where money is bet, the sites keep a small portion, or "rake," from each pot, just as the house does in casinos.
At UltimateBet.com, a 3-year-old poker Web site based in Antigua, the number of players has also skyrocketed, from about 200 to 300 on an average weeknight three years ago, to 7,000 on an average weeknight today.
Greg Pierson, chief executive of ieLogic in Portland, Ore., has watched the Antigua operation become his software company's biggest client.
"They've been experiencing double-digit growth every month for the last year," he said. "That's hard to keep up with."
Pierson said television coverage of poker has had an enormous effect on Internet poker.
"Poker, somehow, is becoming more and more part of popular culture," he said. "There are several commercials out lately that feature poker. Television programs are using poker now."
Online player David Karaszkiewicz, 20, of Pottstown, Pa., is one of the new players to discover Texas hold'em on the Internet. He's played poker for years but just started playing hold'em in August. He plays, about three times a week, in free online tournaments.
"I play online more, only because I don't have to get anyone, find a place, set the limits, get the chips or anything else. I double click . . . and then play until I run out of fake money. Then I refill my fake money and play again."
While he hasn't started playing for money yet, Karaszkiewicz said the law won't deter him when he turns 21.
"It all comes down to me wanting to play online because it's cheaper than going to Foxwoods or Atlantic City," he said. "The government should not restrict my rights to play a game."
Gambling addiction
Along with the rise in online gambling has been a rise in online gambling addicts, said Ed Looney, executive director of the New Jersey Council on Compulsive Gambling.
Most of the problem gamblers who have called the council place wagers at sites that take bets on sporting events, Looney said.
But he expects the number of problem gamblers finding their way to poker sites to grow.
"The World Series of Poker, which has gotten blasted all over, has juiced people up. Even recovering (Gamblers Anonymous) members are seeing it and getting juiced up," Looney said. "The more they promote this activity, the more people will get into it."
The growth of Web site traffic seems to back him up.
"Did we expect to grow this much, probably not so much so fast," Bhargava said. "But it's going to grow more. I will not be shocked if we have 100,000 people playing simultaneously in two to three years."
Barbee is not so sure.
"I think for the average person, it's a fad, that they'll get bored of losing money and then a lot of that dead money will be gone," he said.