Give & Take

Online Gambling (continued)

By Larry Magid

Rob also doesn't worry about the legal implications, even though online gambling is illegal in the United States, especially for minors, as he clearly was when he started at age 17.

"Well, yeah, as far as being a 17-year-old, I just thought it wouldn't be a big deal just because it was such a small quantity of money.  Who’s going to care?  When I was 17 I was playing for very small stakes and so many people did it, millions of Americans, I think, and definitely millions worldwide, and it's pretty anonymous. And as far as it being legal for everyone, it's iffy, it's debated. I think in the end it's going to be legalized because people are looking at how many people play it. There's no way the government could stamp this out through legislation, so they want to tax it, obviously, so they're going to make it legitimate pretty soon."

While Rob may or may not be right about gambling becoming "legitimate pretty soon," it is currently illegal in all 50 states – even if it is legal in the country where the online casino is located. And even if online gambling is legalized in the U.S., it is highly likely that it will remain unlawful for minors under the age of 18 or possibly even 21. In fact, at 19 Rob is still too young to play in Las Vegas but he said he wouldn’t even if he could. "I don't really play live anymore, I'm not really good at it, I haven't really developed a poker face or anything."

So, what went through the mind of a 17-year-old who’s about to place his first online bet? "I'm thinking I'm not really playing for that much money, it's not a big deal," he said. And as far as the sites themselves are concerned, "I mean, I trust all the sites now, they're all huge sites. There's no reason they'd want to cheat you out of anything. It used to be shady earlier, in the '90s, but there are now a lot of legitimate sites." He is certainly right about the size and profitability of some of the companies behind some of these sites. Some, including Leisure & Gaming PLC are publicly traded on the London Stock Exchange and other exchanges. Still, like any other industry there are "legitimate" gambling sites and those that cannot be trusted.

Paying for online gambling and cashing out if you win can be problematic from the United States because many credit card companies will not do business with overseas casinos. Rob uses what he calls "online wallets" to handle his transactions. For awhile, until he was 18, his online account was frozen but that didn’t stop him. "So I played on other people's accounts and they'd just pay me back."

I asked Rob if he ever thinks about the people he’s playing against. After all, for Rob to win, someone has to lose and it’s a real person, not a casino. In poker, the "house" isn’t in the game. It takes a fee which it collects whether you win or lose. Your opponents are other players who are "sitting" at your virtual "table."

In the low stakes games you can be playing against virtually anyone including young kids, Rob says, but at the high-stakes tables where he mostly plays, "I feel like that it's often really successful young guys – there are a lot of 19-year-olds, 20-year-olds." But then, he adds, "there's a lot of rich Europeans, it seems like, who are just day traders or something, and throwing around a few thousand dollars or tens of thousands of dollars is just kind of them cooling off for the day." Of course, Rob is only speculating who these people are. He has no way of knowing for sure.

Some casinos allow you to carry on an online chat with your opponents while you play. "There’s a lot of talking, depending on the site," Rob said. "Some sites will tell you how many people are watching, and sometimes people watching can chat as well. With high-stakes games there can be as many as 20 or 30 people watching."

The types of conversation depend on the type of game, he said. "At low stakes it's just, it's a lot of young kids and people screwing around, so it's just kind of goofy, talking about whatever." Rob does not feel that there is much risk associated with game chat though, like all chat systems, it’s important to avoid giving out too much personal information.

Rob says he has no misgivings and doesn’t feel any guilt about the money he’s taking from other people. "When I started I didn't really feel guilty because there wasn't that much money and now I play against people who are serious players. I mean, obviously, like I empathize with people, sympathize with people who are addicted, I guess. I knew a couple of people who played too much, lost too much money.  I don't know, it's just how it goes."

If he weren’t winning at poker, Rob would still be in school but says he’d otherwise "be taking out large loans" (to pay for school) because my parents have two other kids that will be going to college. My dad was unemployed for awhile, so I'm pretty happy - it's kind of just at the right time I got good at poker so I can pay for all these things."

I asked him how he would feel if one of his younger brothers (he has two brothers still in high school) started playing online poker. I asked him to "pursue the downside for a moment" to think about younger kids.

"Well, it is true that most people are going to lose in the end, so I'd probably warn them to be careful. I mean, it's always fun to have poker buddies, but if I felt someone wasn't really up to being a good poker player, because it does take a lot of work to be good, then I'd probably not be so happy about it. But I mean, also, if you're playing low stakes it can just be for fun. Like nowadays they have $10 buy-in games. It's obviously just for fun - you're not going to make or lose real money there. It's just playing poker online, so I have mixed feelings, I guess I would say."

I also asked Rob to think about other risks and benefits besides money. "I mean, people have been playing poker games forever. It's not about the money, it's because it's a game. It's a game of luck, it's also a game of skill and it's just a fun way to spend time with people. As far as risking something else than money, I guess your pride or something. I mean it's like playing a video game, is the way I see it - low stakes 'Hold ‘em' is like just kids playing video games."