Betcha Wins Now, But What About Later?
March
15, 2010
How do you decide if
gambling is actually gambling if there are no repercussions for losing?
What if you place a bet, and then you don’t win, but then you don’t pay
on it either? Is that still gambling? In some states that might get you
a broken leg or arm, but in Washington it only gets you a mark against
your name. This is the conundrum that is facing Washington lawmakers as
they try to decide if Betcha.com is online gambling or not.
The thing is that Betcha.com works on the idea that people place bets
with one another. The online gambling site – so to speak – only hosts
the wagers, but does not get involved in them. They make a fee for
hosting the wager, but do not actually win anything one way or the
other. Let’s say Joe Green in Olympia wants to bet that the Eagles are
going to the next Super Bowl, and Bob Smith in Seattle says they aren’t.
They would enter into a wager on the online gambling site, and then wait
to see who was right. If Green is right, he would collect the wager from
Smith. But if Smith is right, Green pays him. But what if Green is right
and Smith refuses to pay on the wager? There are no repercussions
because it is an honor based system. If Smith doesn’t want to pay, he
doesn’t have to – but he gets a mark on his account that tells other
players that he may have reneged on a wager before.
The state of Washington says that this is still online gambling and that
Betcha is in trouble. However, the Court of Appeals in Washington has
ruled that it is not online gambling under state law. They said that as
you do not have to pay, it is not held to the same rules and regulations
that online gambling would be.
The state is appealing it to the Supreme Court of the state of
Washington, as they feel that the court was too lenient with the online
gambling site. Betcha is ready for the fight.
