Offshore casino turns away U.S.-based avatars
By Adam Reuters
SECOND LIFE, April 5 (Reuters) - The company behind the online gambling site PalmVegas.com and the recently created PalmVegas.com Island in Second Life said it would bar avatars who are based in the United States from its virtual casino to avoid breaking U.S. anti-gambling laws.
“This compliance is required to ensure that our world wide casino operations are restricted to access by non-U.S. residents as well as those accessing casino operations from a computer located with the United States of America in accordance with the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act,” Giddyup Holdings Incorporated said in a statement.
The move comes two days after Reuters reported exclusively that FBI agents had visited Second Life casinos at the invitation of Linden Lab.
Giddyup Holdings is based in the British Virgin Islands. In recent months U.S. law enforcement agencies have cracked down on Web-based casinos that are housed offshore, including the arrest of one executive who had a connecting flight through the United States.
“From what we’re hearing from our sources, (the FBI’s) looking around and is getting a bit more interested. There’s going to be a crackdown at some point,” said Andre Choquette (SL avatar: Azno Simons), Giddyup’s director of operations, in a phone interview. “Our solicitors said, there’s just no way — you’re completely running outside of the (anti-gambling) act, because the currency can be freely traded.”
Choquette said the company has asked Linden Lab for a way to verify residents’ IP addresses — or at least to determine which country the IP addresses were based — but for now will have a concierge ask gamblers their country of residence. The measure is clearly not foolproof and depends on the honesty of the gamblers, but Choquette said it would at least show PalmVegas is making an effort to comply with U.S. law.
“If the crackdown comes down, Linden Lab is going to do one of two things — make everybody comply (with the anti-gambling act) or shut down casinos,” he said. “I’m suspecting that Linden Lab, based on the legal opinion we received, does not want to be in a position to be liable.”
