This past Sunday, former US Senator for Arkansas Blanche Lincoln appeared on the Mike Huckabee Show on FoxNews. The program is notable among online gambling enthusiasts, because Senator Lincoln was discussing online gambling legislation with Huckabee, her fellow Arkansan. It’s important to cover such discussions, because these broadcasts help form American opinions and set the agenda. Because the two involved in the discussion are from two parties–a Democrat and a Republican–it can hardly be political to agree with or criticize the point of view given. The two agreed on most points.
In the televised discussion, both Huckabee and Lincoln took the approach that online gambling is a danger to American children. Between them, they made the online gambling industry and law enforcement appear wholly unable to regulate gambling. The conversation also made U.S. children appear to be skilled identity thieves, while at the same time possessing great naivete about the dangers of betting. If one saw only the discussion for information on the topic, one would imagine that regulated online casinos are pervasive and predatory when it comes to American youth. Hardly a word was said about dangers posed to adults. Below are several topics raised in that discussion.
Blanche Lincoln: “No Way to Tell”
One of the most obvious mistakes Senator Lincoln made was when she told Huckabee, “There is no way to tell if that child is in New York, New Jersey, or Pennsylvania.”
People familiar with online gambling in New Jersey know that the technology absolutely knows which state a person is in. When someone downloads the online casino and poker room software, the technology geolocates the computer’s position. If a person is in New Jersey, it knows they are in New Jersey. If a person is in New York or Pennsylvania, it is obvious that person is in that state.
How Geolocation Software Works
How a politician could get the wrong idea about geolocation tech is a mystery. Since New Jersey rolled out online gambling in late-November 2013, hundreds of news stories have discussed the geolocation software. In the early days, the technology was not working properly, but it was not allowing people inside New Jersey to play, which meant revenues were less than expected. Many NJ gamblers simply gave up and never tried online gambling again.
As time passed, software companies improved on the technology and got the bugs out. This was reported on in most media outlets, so anyone informed on the industry would know this fact. Now, the technology is considered reliable. The same can be said of tech in Delaware and Nevada, the only other states where online gambling is regulated. If other states licensed online gambling, the same general list of operators and software companies would be involved and the geolocation technology would work.
Mike Huckabee’s Fears
Mike Huckabee also mis-characterized the way online casino signups work. Huckabee told viewers, “There is nothing to prohibit a kid from going on and saying, ‘Yes I’m 18 or I’m 21.’”
Internet gaming sites invest a lot of money to erect safeguards against underage gambling. Laws and regulations against such activity are stringent in the states where these laws exist. Any site found to allow underage gamblers would be fined, while parents who learned their child had gambled with their credit card online would be able to fight the charges, just as they would with other cases of identity theft.
How Credit Card Deposits Work
That’s where Mike Huckabee’s fearmongering is flawed. To gamble online, a child would need their parent’s credit card and the sign-in information. They would need the parent’s casino account information, or at least access to their parent’s computer. Even if they didn’t have their parent’s account, they would need a credit card, debit card, or web wallet to open an account. While they could lie about their age if they had such information, they would need hacker skills without their parent’s information. Unlike Hollywood movies, hacking requires a high level of skill (if the parent doesn’t use 1234 as their log-in code).
In other words, children would have to commit identity fraud to get a casino account and gamble for real money. In all likelihood, they would have to steal their family member’s credit card.
Complaints Could Apply to Any Website
While such things are possible, teenagers and tweens would be able to make online purchases at Amazon, Ebay, or a host of other online sites just as easy, under those circumstances. Huckabee might as well be complaining about any online vendor or service, because evidence doesn’t exist that online casinos are less stringent. In fact, they require several days to verify a person’s identity, usually checking with their bank, when it’s time to withdraw money. If they learn a child was gambling, they are likely to refund the person’s money. People can always challenge purchases or deposits with their credit card company.
In painting such a bleak picture, Huckabee might have been discussing unregulated online casinos. These are offshore sites less likely to offer refunds. But if those were the sites Huckabee was discussing, then he was making a case for regulation. In a regulated marketplace, online casinos and poker sites have to behave like traditional businesses.
About Blanche Lincoln
Blanche Lincoln was the U.S. Senator from Arkansas from 1999 until 2011, after winning two elections as a Democrat. She was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1993 to 1997, before she became a senator. Lincoln lost her 2010 reelection bid to John Boozman by a whopping 58%-38% margin, amidst political fallout of the Global Recession.
These days, Blanche Lincoln is a special policy advisor for Alston & Bird, the largest law firm in Georgia and the 43rd-largest legal firm in the United States. In 2011, she became the chair for a project of the National Federation of Independent Business, a public policy group known as “Small Business for Sensible Regulations.” Throughout her career, Blanche Lincoln has been considerate a conservative Democrat and an “independent” thinking politician. This was her strength in her early days in Congress, but eventually may have led to her downfall.