Law Professor Discusses Future of Online Casino Industry

A Stanford law professor, Lawrence Lessig, has discussed the future of the online casino industry with several gambling proponents this week. Lessig believes that government regulation is coming to the Internet and that the online casino industry won’t be able to carry on at its current state for long. With phenomenon like spam, child porn and other ‘malicious’ online activities growing in an alarming rate, there’s an increasing demand for government action concerning online regulation – and Lessing believes that online casino sites will be affected by future acts.

Lessing addressed the audience at the gaming industry summit in Montreal and said that even though the United States’ government is already working on an online casino prohibition act, there are many online casino groups that are operating form offshore countries, such as the Caribbean, and they’re beyond the reach of any nation’s own laws. Lessing painted a mixed picture regarding the online casino industry’s future in light of upcoming legislation.

According to Lessing, Microsoft and other major players in Internet technology are currently working on specific applications that will add an identity requirement to the web, and in five years cyberspace could be divided by virtual borders – making the lives of online casino operators very uneasy. These virtual borders will make online casino users subjected to national laws even while surfing the net. “That Internet will mean that freedom will be a function of your passport,” Lessig said. “What you’re allowed to do in different places on the Internet will depend on where you come from.”