The Connecticut attorney general recently asked Foxwoods casino to shut down a gambling game with an online component, charging that it is online gambling. But is it really?
From MSNBC:
A first-of-its-kind computer program has one of the world’s largest casinos locked in a dispute with regulators who are steadfast against any loosening of U.S. rules against Internet gambling.It’s called PlayAway, an Internet-based game offered by the Foxwoods Resort Casino that lets gamblers buy keno tickets at the casino, check their status from home and play a simulated slot machine or a hand of blackjack or poker that wins or loses depending on the keno results.
Foxwoods officials, who launched the game then quickly shut it down because of state objections last month, say it’s just a different way of displaying traditional keno results, which are already available online. (Keno is a lottery-like game in which bettors select numbers they hope will come up in a drawing).
But state officials believe it is Internet gambling and have threatened to sue if Foxwoods puts the game back online.
Foxwoods agreed to suspend the game until Aug. 15, two weeks later than its original restart date. The casino, owned by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, will use the extra time to provide detailed information to state regulators.
Foxwoods is the first casino in the country to try such a venture. If it succeeds, members of the National Indian Gaming Association expect the idea will attract other tribes.
Casino regulators in New Jersey are also watching, because the Casino Control Commission is considering allowing Atlantic City gambling halls to use such software.
Foxwoods believes the issue is a matter of appearance. The PlayAway Web site never explained that the fancy blackjack and slot machine graphics were just a facade, a way to heighten the experience of checking for a winning keno ticket.
To me, it’s hard to argue that this is Internet gaming: the tickets are bought at the casino, which is where the “gambling decision” takes place. There is the appearance of playing a game, but the results are already determined.
Both the Kansas and New Jersey lotteries have experimented with this kind of game, and neither state’s attorney general protested.
One might be able to argue, if using the Internet to learn the results of a gambling decision is illegal, then checking sports scores online should be outlawed. There are likely thousands of people everyday who gamble money on sports and check espn.com or other sites to see if they won or lost. That’s an extreme argument, to be sure, but it seems to be the “slippery slope” on the other side of the mountain, so to speak.