David Carruthers and the War on Online Gambling

Once upon a time when I was young the world was divided to Good Goys and Bad Guys, and the Good Guys used top draw a little faster.

But both teams loved killing, stealing, and hanging out drinking their guts out and more. One was the sheriff and the other a wanted felon, but both did the same stuff. As the years past I started understanding the Good and Bad belong in the bible, but when comes to our world, there is no good and bad, illegal or legal. There's only politics.

Here's an example I like from the movie Spiderman. Our 'hero' is catching some jewel robbers. The innocent kid watching the movie knows without any doubt that the robbers are bad and the poor victim here is the jewel store owner. But eye-opened grown ups know that these diamonds were produced by exploitive corporations who employ child labor in slavery-like conditions until they find their death from breathing methane gas over the years.

If Spiderman was a real man he'd be going to Africa and give the corporation a piece of his mind. But that's too tricky for the average person, moreover a kid.

How does this story relate to us webmasters? These days a war was declared on online gambling. Governments of different nations spearheaded by America are out for blood. It started with the arrest of David Carruthers from BetOnSports and continues with the arrest of Peter Dicks from Sportingbet. Both are being charged for organizing illegal gambling.

Now, at the sound of 'illegal gambling' the public starts nodding disapprovingly and ever so self-righteously. But the public forgets that gambling are only too legal when it's run by the government. No hustler would give you worse line than the government's, no casino gives worse payout than national lotteries, but when the people hear gambling they would scream crime.

Unlike the 'sheriff' here, the online casinos use risk management companies, and they will never let a player take up a debt that he can't pay, unlike some countries who allow credit without proper balance. Lotteries and sportsbetting forms are sold to kids all over the world, while the internet blocks underage gaming (and don't sell me the story about kids stealing mom's credit card to gamble). In short you got the message.

So when it comes to online gambling, the sheriff decides what's legal or not, and then starts waving his guns. The problem with our sheriff is that he prefers dealing in arms and scratching the backs of his 'conservative' buddies, who are concerned mostly that their land based casinos are losing revenue for online competition.

The funny (and idiotic) thing is that they can only gain from the massive exposure gambling got from the internet. But they'll rather die than admit it.

That's why this battle against online gambling is about the lobbyists. As soon as online casino owners will establish a strong lobby they will become perfectly legit. My guess is that the purpose of the arrests was to damage the stock issue of gambling companies in Europe. Playtech's share dropped 40% on the day of the arrest.

The truth is so obvious. Online gambling will become legal. Those who start nowadays will own respected global businesses in the future, just like those who brutally took over lands 200 years ago and now their decedents are 'pillars of their communities' .

David Carruthers is paying honorary dues in this war. Although it's possible there's something else there to make the FBI risk a slander lawsuit of millions, but the general feel is that sheriff has his own agenda. Lucky for us he'll be hanging on to his badge only for two more years. But I'm betting 2:1 that's the bottom line is that he's shooting blanks.