Tuesday, April 17, 2007

With television stations like ESPN airing poker tournaments on an almost
daily schedule, it is no wonder that online gambling has become extremely
popular. The gambling craze has taken to many sites like Party Poker, Poker
Stars and even the virtual world Second Life. Such sites allow users to
deposit money into an account and gamble with people from all across the
world, as well as professionals.
However, these sites cannot possibly regulate age restrictions, as long as
the cardholder is of the legal gambling age. Many children are handed credit
cards by inattentive parents, and often Internet content is unregulated. For
the few parents who do take the time to notice, allowing their children to
gamble is no big deal. Still, most parents wouldn't know or even care to
find their kids gambling online.
It is harmless fun, after all. Gambling is an addictive activity and can
suck in even the most disciplined adults. Professional gambler Mike Matusow
has even claimed to have an online gambling problem to the extent that he
lost everything after winning a sizeable sum of money at the World Series of
Poker. If a professional can't enforce self control in relation to Internet
gambling, what will the average young adult do? The government has laws and
regulations that state the peoples' right to gamble. However, if no one
takes the time to monitor or enforce these laws, who knows how old "The
Professor" or "Kool Kat" is, much less whether they are professional
gamblers or some moobs trying to get rich quick. Since Internet regulation
is non existent, a major overhaul would have to take place in order to
create and enforce laws concerning gambling online. In any case, gambling
has become on of those over- dramatized, ultra- glamorized lifestyles that
Hollywood and the media continue to push on young people just starting out
in life. It would be a tragedy if a teen with only opportunities ahead of
her finds herself in debt up to her ears and an addiction that she can't
kick with a patch.