Is Oscar Betting
Illegal?
March
14, 2010
It would probably depend on
who you ask. The online gambling industry went nuts last weekend with
players placing their bets on everything from Best Picture and Best
Actress to who would wear whom and who would be best dressed. The online
gambling arena is good for those kinds of bets because there are sites
that you can literally find almost anything to bet on. But some are
wondering – with all of this betting – is it illegal?
With the passage of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, or
UIGEA, online gambling was supposed to be made very clear for everyone
as to what was legal and what wasn’t. However, it failed to do so and
many people are still wondering if being involved in that kind of
betting – like for events like the Oscars or the Grammy’s – if they are
breaking the law.
Some say that it would depend on where you actually gambled. There were
a lot of office pools going around that people were getting into – and
some say that these are completely harmless but illegal none the less.
The same goes with the online gambling landscape – for if you won and
you had a payment processed then you are breaking the law and the UIGEA.
But this brings us back to what online gambling is. Is betting on the
Oscars a game of skill? Or is it gambling. Many feel that if a game
involves some degree of decision making over the process that it is not
illegal. Poker players need skill in order to win – so many feel that
the game is not illegal. Slot machine players have no determination over
whether they win or not – hence they are online gambling and it is
illegal. But where do the Oscars fit? Probably somewhere right in the
middle.
