A new area of specialization may quickly be developing in the
legal field: online casinos. Current issues surrounding online casinos
include sports law, bankruptcy law, international law, and finance law.
Despite the recent economic downturn, online casinos have seen
increasing popularity. According to a report released last Wednesday by
Jupiter Media Metrix Inc., online casinos have moved from the eleventh
largest industry advertiser in December of 2000 to currently the fifth
largest industry advertiser. Goldenpalace.com has found a new, but perhaps
legally uncertain, manner of advertising. The online casino pays
professional boxers to have their web address temporarily tattooed across
their back before they fight.
However, on 2/20/02, the Nevada State Athletic Commission voted
5-0 to ban boxers from fighting while displaying advertiser's names on their
body. The Commission said that the tattoos are distracting and demeaning to
the sport. Judge Mark Gibbons in the Clark County District Court issued a
temporary restraining order allowing boxers to continue to fight while
tattooed until the issue was decided later. The TRO will be reviewed March
6th in another court. The online casino operator and the boxers are expected
to argue that the Commission is infringing on their First Amendment rights.
For more information, see Dean Juipe's article in the Las Vegas Sun,
"Selling Your Body for Fun and Profit."
http://www.lasvegasun.com/sunbin/stories/eat/2002/feb/22/513078319.html
Not surprisingly, bankruptcy law is another area of law that
seems to go hand-in-hand with online casinos. Many online casino operators
are finding it difficult to get courts to enforce online gambling debts.
According to the article, "Online Gambling: Beware the Credit Card Crunch,"
one California woman recently had $100,000 worth of gambling debts wiped
clean in a court-ordered settlement by arguing that they were not
enforceable.
http://iafrica.com/easymoney/onlinegambling/880941.htm
After the terrorist attacks of September 11th, the federal
government has increased its scrutiny of online casinos for their potential
money-laundering capabilities. Republican James Leach (Iowa) has been quoted
as saying, "Internet gambling poses the greatest potential for money
laundering that exists in the world." It is currently unclear what effect
federal legislation would have on state legislation that legalizes online
gaming, such as Nevada's.
Online casinos and gaming have a variety of legal issues around
them that make them a possible new area of legal specialization. Tony Cabot
is a Las Vegas attorney and expert on Internet gambling. His latest report
on online casinos and gaming is entitled "Internet Gambling Report IV" and
is available at:
http://www.sillysports.com/igr4.htm
