2013-02-06 NPR - Is Online Gambling Legal With Bitcoins?

[Arvicco]

http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2013/02/06/171182974/is-online-gambling-legal-if-bitcoins-not-dollars-are-at-stake

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1714038886

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[Mike Hearn]

I don't understand why anyone in America would try running or being involved with gambling sites. It seems exceptionally stupid. Do they want to be martyrs? Because I don't think claiming that Bitcoin is play money, like Micon and Vorhees seem apt to do, will impress the authorities very much.

[Gyrsur]

I don't understand why anyone in America would try running or being involved with gambling sites. It seems exceptionally stupid. Do they want to be martyrs? Because I don't think claiming that Bitcoin is play money, like Micon and Vorhees seem apt to do, will impress the authorities very much.

+1

[deepceleron]

But here's the thing with gambling with Bitcoin: My winnings are still in Bitcoin. It's up to me to convert those back into dollars. And that extra step is deliberate, says Brito of George Mason University.

"The fact that they are doing that seems to suggest that they themselves are not 100 percent sure that this will be seen as perfectly legal by regulators," he says, "wherever they're based."

This quote from podcaster and talking head Jerry Brito, who says this on his web page:
 
"What I find telling is that the casino operators, who are making a tidy profit, are keeping everything in bitcoin and at no point converting to dollars or other currency."

Who is the "they"? We use bitcoins, bitcoins are money. Once it is Bitcoins it does not need to be converted (back) to dollars. You can buy company shares in Bitcoins, earn dividends in Bitcoins, and buy socks for your nocturnal emissions while listening to your own voice in Bitcoins.

For now, I still have 0.8 Bitcoin in my account, worth about $13 — assuming that it's not raided by the feds.

There is no "account". Perhaps that money can be spent on buying a clue.

He bet 0.02 and won 0.02244397. That's a bet on lessthan 56000. There are too many people that have placed such a bet to find the reporter's, but here's one suspect:

http://blockchain.info/address/1F8PaHxy8F6uqkS2owJji63peNx3WRpMSE

[hazek]

What I find extremely annoying is this obsession by people about what is and isn't legal.

I mean as if something being legal is the only form in which people can perform it. Pisses me off.

Personally I don't give a shit about what is legal, what matters to me is the reality - there is this gang of thugs and if I want what's good for my health and wealth I should try my best to only do stuff that they can't find out about or stuff that they currently do NOT go out looking to exert violence upon people who they catch doing something.

[grondilu]

What I find extremely annoying is this obsession by people for what is and isn't legal.

I mean as if something being legal is the only form in which people can perform it. Pisses me off. Personally I don't give a shit about what is legal, what matters to me is the reality - there is this gang of thugs and if I want what's good for my health and wealth I should try my best to only do stuff that they can't find out about or stuff that they don't currently go out and look to exert violence over people for doing it.

Agreed.  Also, Law is not supposed to be some external force we should obey blindly. It's supposed to emanate from the will of people.  If people want something to be legal, then it should become legal.

[TraderTimm]

Agreed.  Also, Law is not supposed to be some external force we should obey blindly. It's supposed to emanate from the will of people.  If people want something to be legal, then it should become legal.

Your thoughts are sublimely excellent. Great point.

[Gabi]

What I find extremely annoying is this obsession by people for what is and isn't legal.

I mean as if something being legal is the only form in which people can perform it. Pisses me off. Personally I don't give a shit about what is legal, what matters to me is the reality - there is this gang of thugs and if I want what's good for my health and wealth I should try my best to only do stuff that they can't find out about or stuff that they don't currently go out and look to exert violence over people for doing it.

Agreed.  Also, Law is not supposed to be some external force we should obey blindly. It's supposed to emanate from the will of people.  If people want something to be legal, then it should become legal.

+1

[Micon]

Thanks to Cyrus for the piece.

IMO at SwC we play a skillgame for bitcoin and do no banking.  We currently exist in the greyspace.

Bitcoin is a perfect solution for online poker.  I have the entrepreneurial spirit, and I will uproot my family & move to a different country if mine won't let me explore this new technology.  I won't, however, sit here scared of my country and do nothing instead of following my heart and helping to mold a site that drastically reduces online poker rake and offers a much-wanted solution to my fellow poker players around the world who are shut out because of what I consider completely unjust and laughably backwards laws in some jurisdictions.

[iCEBREAKER]

What I find extremely annoying is this obsession by people about what is and isn't legal.

Well it is NPR.  They are pretty much the most sheepish, authority worshiping station on the radio.

Most of their audience are Obama voting looters and parasites.  They should change the callsign to KSLAV.

[Micon]

What I find extremely annoying is this obsession by people about what is and isn't legal.

Well it is NPR.  They are pretty much the most sheepish, authority worshiping station on the radio.

Most of their audience are Obama voting looters and parasites.  They should change the callsign to KSLAV.

I like you.

I'll bet we would get along IRL.  Do you like IPA beers?

[iCEBREAKER]

I'll bet we would get along IRL.  Do you like IPA beers?

Thanks, the admiration is mutual!

Big fan of IPA and APA.  Stone, Green Flash, and Drake's are my current faves.  Let's drink and be irascible grouches at the confab in San Jose.  

Bring smoothie and we'll be the Delta Force of trolls!  

[thefiniteidea]

I listen to WNYC/NPR, 101.5, and various other talk shows on my way to work every morning, and this was the most pathetic story I've ever heard on NPR.

They're actually, usually pretty good about doing their research IMO, but even for me this was a new low.

"For now, I still have 0.8 bitcoin in my account. That is, assuming it's not raided by the feds."

SERIOUSLY??!!

[kjlimo]

I listen to WNYC/NPR, 101.5, and various other talk shows on my way to work every morning, and this was the most pathetic story I've ever heard on NPR.

They're actually, usually pretty good about doing their research IMO, but even for me this was a new low.

"For now, I still have 0.8 bitcoin in my account. That is, assuming it's not raided by the feds."

SERIOUSLY??!!

Hah, I think he was just trying to get a chuckle out of the masses.. most people still don't understand why that's funny/not possible.

[kiba]

Hah, I think he was just trying to get a chuckle out of the masses.. most people still don't understand why that's funny/not possible.

They can, if they know where you live. Even if you have a brainwallet, they can resort to torture.

[marcus_of_augustus]

Hah, I think he was just trying to get a chuckle out of the masses.. most people still don't understand why that's funny/not possible.

They can, if they know where you live. Even if you have a brainwallet, they can resort to torture.

... this is where someone says something about "prying bitcoins out of my cold, dead brain"

[Mike Christ]

I never understood why it was illegal either.

America has casinos all over the freaking place.  Were the casino owners crying to their government to stop online websites from taking their business?  I can only come to this conclusion, seeing as we have absolutely no problem with gambling offline.