Ethical issues in online gambling

In recent years there has been an explosive growth of gambling opportunity and activity on the Internet stirring controversies around the ethics of internet gambling. Internet gambling differs from other forms of gambling in that there are few if any regulations to assure the fairness of games or establish the responsibility of game operators, most of whom operate from servers located outside the United States. Unlike gambling activities that are subject to state and federal regulation, there is no control on the hours of availability, age of participants or type of games offered. An unscrupulous operator can merely close down a site or move its base to another country if challenged. Hackers can potentially interfere with the process by manipulating the online games, as well as stealing funds by accessing the credit card numbers used in the gambling. In addition, Internet gambling, unlike many other types of gambling activity, is a solitary activity, which makes it even more dangerous: people can gamble uninterrupted and undetected for unlimited periods of time. Regular or heavy users of the Internet have been found more likely to participate in Internet gambling than other users.

There are many kinds of online gambling which are easy for anyone to access. The selection varies from online casinos, to sports books to even electronic stock trading. Although all these websites are enjoyed and even abused by many people, there are also several controversies on the issue. One being the issue of the government earning 0% tax money on all online gambling. The other problem is the groups who think it should be illegal because of moral reasons. A major concern is with regulation of the age of gamblers. It's often impossible for webmasters to know the ages of people visiting their site, potentially allowing underage kids to be exposed to the gambling websites. Another issue that concerns regulators is addiction. This is more of a concern with online gambling because of the quickness and ease of the gambling.

Fraud is another big reason why regulators question ethics around internet gambling. Internet gamblers can't be assured the games they play are legitimate and they can't be guarenteed a payoff. Some websites just take people's credit card numbers, and some don't have proper machinery. Another loss results from the decrease in revenue in the solid casinos in the state borders, causing not only the state to lose even more tax income, but also devastating the actual casinos and it's employees. Online gambling also opens a giant can of worms, in that it gives gambling access to millions of people who otherwise would not have access. One of the logical conclusions of having more gamblers is having more gambling addicts.

Finally, online gambling promotes fraud and cheating. Critics claim that online gambling sites have already become a haven for hackers and con men. Most internet gamblers purchase credit online through the use of their credit cards. Skilled hackers would have mountains of credit card numbers to illegally charge to. Another dilemma to online gambling is that it makes cheating easier. While cheating obviously constitutes a breach in ethics, it also can cost casinos millions. Casinos have thousands of cameras to monitor cheating onsite, however it is almost impossible to monitor a player as he bets out of his home.