LAS VEGAS (AP) – Nevada gaming regulators trying to decide whether to regulate Internet gambling weren’t exactly convinced the state is ready for cybercasinos after hearing Tuesday that technology can’t yet provide total security.
“There’s no such thing as an absolutely secure site,” said James Sargent, senior consultant for BMM Australia, a consulting company that helped write Australia’s Internet gaming regulations.
Nevada lawmakers recently approved a bill allowing the state Gaming Commission to develop rules to let Nevada casino operators operate Web gambling sites.
Since the legislation says Internet gambling must be secure and reliable, gambling regulators began a two-day seminar Tuesday to let technology experts offer their tips.
But the news wasn’t encouraging for regulators who would like assurance they are on the right track.
Sargent said Web casinos are constantly at risk for money laundering, identity and credit card theft. Hackers and even countries who may have a problem with Internet gambling could sabotage sites, he said.
“It sounds like constant warfare,” Commission Chairman Brian Sandoval said.
In land casinos, it’s the eye in the sky that does the cheating patrol. Overhead cameras capture nearly every inch of the casino, making nabbing cheaters pretty cut and dry. Some casinos even use facial recognition technology that takes pictures of players, then tries to match them to known cheaters.
But Internet gambling is a whole new world, even to the state that first legalized gambling. How do you keep minors from playing? How do you keep out Pengeluaran SGP gamblers from countries and states where Internet gambling is illegal?
“Technology does not exist in its current state to provide 100 percent protection,” Sargent said.
Sargent gave suggestions for setting up security points for Web casinos and how to react to an attack, but that did nothing to advance Nevada’s entry into cybercasinos.
“Certainly that causes me some concern,” Sandoval said after hearing Sargent’s presentation. He said he wasn’t comfortable that the level of security needed exists.
The U.S. Justice Department has considered Internet gambling to be illegal from within the United States because of a 40-year-old federal law banning betting on the telephone.
But Nevada lawmakers believe the legalization of online betting is inevitable, especially if federal restrictions are changed by pending court challenges, including one in Louisiana.
MGM Mirage, the largest owner of hotel-casinos in Las Vegas, decided not to wait to see if Nevada regulates Web casinos. The company has applied for a cybercasino license from the Isle of Man, a small semi-independent island located in the center of the British Isles.
Nevada regulations don’t prohibit casinos from operating Internet casinos regulated by foreign jurisdictions.
The world’s largest gambling company – Park Place Entertainment Corp. (NYSE:PPE – news) – is choosing the wait-and-see attitude.
“Until the public and the gaming industry feels confident with Internet controls and safeguards, we should focus on those issues rather than pushing casino-style gambling into millions of homes that may not want it,” Tom Gallagher, Park Place president and chief executive officer, said during the seminar.
