Online Gambling
“Click the Mouse and Bet the House”- Senator John Kyl
Internet gambling has become a booming industry. As harmless as online gambling seems, it has many associated problems. One major obstacle Public Relations practitioners are faced with is the regulatory and enforcement challenges associated with the legality of online gambling.
PR practitioners face many issues and concerns when dealing with such a scrutinized industry. PR practitioners have to make ethical and socially acceptable decisions regarding campaigns for online gambling. PR practitioners have to ensure that their company and society is given adequate facts when trying to find a middle ground until the government puts regulations on this industry.
Online gambling is one of the fastest growing businesses worldwide, becoming “an essentially borderless activity that poses regulatory and enforcement challenges,” according to the Government Accountability Office in 2002.
In Public Relations, practitioners will be faced with making ethical decisions on how to view and publicize online gambling. Heydary, a writer commented that “the situation in Canada is simply unclear as there are few gaming cases that provide clear-cut guidelines regarding online gaming and advertising.”
The Canadian government has taken the stance that running online gambling operations is subject to criminal liability and advertising for online gambling is considered illegal. However, contradicting ideas surround the legality of online gambling in Canada. According to a CBC News Online article, companies such as Cryptologic exist in Canada, which is a major supplier for internet gambling software. The article also states that the average Canadian online gamer may not be breaking the law if they log on.
According to the Canadian Federation on Compulsive Gambling (Ontario), betting online on a sports game would be legal but betting online on a casino type game is illegal. What is legal and what is illegal? How can it be determined who is breaking the law and what are the regulations?
Public Relations practitioners have a challenge in performing their job effectively because they do not have any solid legislation surrounding this issue. It is a practitioner’s job to provide individuals in this society with adequate and informational knowledge on online gambling, which is difficult when the government provides no information. PR practitioners need to know the legality associated with participating in such activities.
Cristina Taglione
For more interesting information please visit the following sites
http://www.unc.edu/~jsugar/gambling.html http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d0389.pdf#search=’internet%20gambling’
http://www.heydary.com/publications/online-gambling-laws.html
http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/gambling/onlinegambling.html
5 comments November 4, 2006
