how can online internet betting be improved?

Question

does anybody agree that internet gambling is very flawed? how would you make it better?

Answer 1

America should completely open it up to American companies, tax it, regulate it, and allow Americans to play.

Right now the problem is America is burying its head in the sand making some bits legal, some illegal, other parts a weird gray area. This doesn't do much to help the industry, and according to the WTO what America is doing is illegal.

Answer 2

Right on, ZCT.

Just want to add another part about how the crackdown has largely forced money to shakier institutions. When the US started to crack down, the firms that complied were the publicly traded firms that had to answer to shareholders and regulators. Not to say that it's a 100% safeguard, but at least there's an accountability mechanism in place. The ones that didn't comply were the ones that are privately held and aren't really accountable to anyone. Some of these are still good, trusted firms (PokerStars, Full Tilt, and Bodog come to mind), but one of the selling points of the crackdown was the safety of people's money. Between Neteller and forcing firms like Party Poker out of the market, it's become much less safe.

I agree: regulate, tax, make firms accountable. In the meantime, use sites like SBR to check out your gambling sites to make sure they're legit and pay out. (I don't have any interest in the site, but I always check it out before signing up for a sportsbook.)

Answer 3

Make it legal, then regulate it and tax it (but not too much tax, as that might cause them to reduce payouts). We should have a federal gambling commission to make sure that the casinos treat the players fairly and honestly, and to rule on complaints by players who feel they were cheated.

I don't know if we can prevent offshore companies from complying with U.S. law, but federal regulation to make casinos honest would cause people to want to play with the U.S. based online casinos.