FBI Examines Second Life Casinos

UnanimousCoward writes "Yahoo! is running an article reporting that Second Life has invited the FBI to tour their casinos. Under the theory that they may have some objections, Linden wanted to make sure that everything was on the up and up. The FBI has apparently taken them up on the offer, but will not comment on their conclusion. With the recent US crackdown on Internet gambling, visits to Second Life casinos have increased (using Linden dollars that can be exchanged for real currency). 'Most lawyers agree that placing bets with Linden dollars likely violates US anti-gambling statutes, which cover circumstances in which something of value is wagered. But the degree of Linden Lab's responsibility, and the likelihood of a any crackdown, is uncertain.'"

Comments

its a freaking game!!!

[nurb432]

What the hell is going on with this nonsense? Don't we have better things to do with our tax dollars, like umm protecting our borders or preventing another local attack?

geesh.

Re:its a freaking game!!!

[drinkypoo]

What the hell is going on with this nonsense? Don't we have better things to do with our tax dollars, like umm protecting our borders or preventing another local attack?

This comment is as non-insightful as when someone says "What are you assholes doing working on firefox when linux iptables still has a hole" or whatever.

Are you proposing that all law enforcement personnel nationwide drop everything they are doing and focus on preventing terrorism?

Re:its a freaking game!!!

[Anonymous Coward]

Why must we start from the pre-conceived notion that it's the governments job to protect people from themselves? Why is it more important to protect a degenerate gambler from throwing his life away than it is to protect the rights of everyone capable of setting limits for themselves?

And don't even go there on drugs...the black market for drugs created by their prohibition has ruined far more lives that it has saved. What gives the government the right to prevent someone from putting something in their own body? The government should, instead, be concerned with ensuring that proper and unbiased information on the effects of substances people are putting into their bodies exists and is readily available to everyone.

Instead, the government funds studies designed to show how likely you are to die from the substances they've banned (of which, half would not be illegal if they were patentable or had some established lobbying group *cough* nicotine *cough* alcohol *cough*) and locks up a large portion of its residents unnecessarily. The amount that this country could accomplish if they didn't turn so many people into a drain on public resources is unbelievable.

The problem with government is that they have a different notion of what the words "us" and "them" mean. While Americans persist in interpreting the "us" as Americans and the "them" as foreigners, the government interprets "us" as the privileged and "them" as the unprivileged, with no regard for national borders. As such, their policies protect their "us" rather than our "us." Too bad we only get to choose from tweedle-dumb and tweedle-dumber (in the good years...lately we've been saddled with tweedle-dumberer), both of whom have their own ideas on the best way to subjugate all the "them" that voted for them.

[/rant]

Re:its a freaking game!!!

[Joe The Dragon]

It's one thing if you can win but when it is fixed so that you can't then it is not gambling.

Re:Why the FBI and NOT the nevada gaming commissio

[Flentil]

You have a good point, but I think they might be a little biased. More people gambling in second life could mean less people flying to vegas to get their gambling fix.

Tired of Second Life Posts

[Jalwin]

Anyone else sick of seeing so many stories about this game? It only has what, 20k subscribers? Yet it seems I see at least one news article a week about it.

Re:Why the FBI and NOT the nevada gaming commissio

[spun]

Because they aren't concerned with whether the casino games conform to Nevada gaming codes, they are concerned that they might be breaking Federal law and getting all their servers seized.

Media Whores

[timster]

If you RTFA, it's more like "Second Life creators bragging about how they asked the FBI to look at their casinos". Another non-story about a third-rate MUSH.

too much law enforcement

[BigHungryJoe]

With all the absolutely ridiculous actions the FBI is taking, including 'busting' kids for making threats over Xbox Live, I'm starting to think we've got too many federal law enforcement agents.

Re:Lord, please let the FBI smite Linden Labs...

[zippthorne]

This reminds me of a stupid criminal trick

Operator: 911, please state the emergency
Crook: Um, yeah, I was just wondering if there might be any warrants out for my arrest
O: Can I have your name and social or identity theft, please?
C: J. Bird, xxx-xx-3C08
O: Please hold
        <dispatches police to location>
C: You still there?
O: Please hold
C: I hear sirens
O: Please hold
C: They're all parked around me!
O: Yes, there is a warrant out for your arrest. Please get on the ground.
C: <scuffling noises>

Why would they invite the FBI? If they're really concerned, they should hire a lawyer and then act on the lawyer's advice. Are they based in UK? Perhaps they're not aware of the fifth amendment over here?