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Frankly, I've been trying to find a way to complain
about this for a week now, but I just can't figure
out exactly what it is about this situation that bothers
me other than the fact that Americans should be allowed
to bet on that stuff.
But
after a couple of days of writing posts that were
going nowhere (and how is this one any different,
you ask?) and then deleting them, I ran into
this article posted yesterday on MSNBC.com.
In
it, Alan Boyle discusses another service, very similar
to Intrade, that is actually operating in United States
- at the University of Iowa, no less.
It
is called the Iowa Electronic Markets (IEM) and it
is "an on-line futures market where contract
payoffs are based on real-world events such as political
outcomes, companies' earnings per share (EPS), and
stock price returns".
According
to their website, "IEM is an experimental market
operated for academic research and teaching purposes.
The IEM is not regulated by, nor are its operators
registered with, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission
or any other regulatory authority."
And
because it is an experimental research project, it
is apparently not going to get shut down any time
soon. Not only that, but "All interested participants
world-wide can trade in our political markets."
Yup, they are taking bets from the rest of the world.
But
is it legal?
Again,
according to their website, "IEM has received
two no-action-letters from the Division of Trading
and Markets of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
Without explicitly asserting jurisdiction over the
IEM or any of its submarkets, these letters, dated
February 5, 1992, and June 18, 1993, extended no-action
relief to the IEM's Political and Economic Indicator
Markets."
What
that means is that they have received notification
from the government that they are not going to be
charged any time soon... and since it has been 15
years since those letters were written, I think those
letters spoke the truth.
In
case you were wondering, now is the time you should
ask the question...
How
is this not online gambling?
The
MSNBC article does a little to explain the situation
and why IEM has been allowed to operate outside the
law for the last 15-20 years. But I don't really understand
the explanation, nor do I understand the resulting
situation that seems to allow the University of Iowa
to have a monopoly on online gambling in America.
I
can't believe I only found out about this today. How
come nobody pointed this out to me before?
Anyway,
I hereby urge all American wannabe online gamblers
to immediately sign up for accounts at IEM - and tell
all of you friends too.
I
want you all to trumpet to the world that online gambling
IS legal in America, and show them how.
Maybe
it's not the kind of gambling you like, but I have
a plan.
I
want IEM to become so completely and wildly successful
that all of the other universities in America start
clamoring for their own research projects.
Hey
- who knows? - maybe one of the other universities
can land a research project studying how people interact
with online casino games. Or maybe a study on how
online sportsbooks can affect television ratings.
That would be a good one.
Anyway,
let's turn this thing into a public mess so stinky
that there has to be a government response.
Personally,
I don't have any problem with what is going on at
IEM. My problem is that they are allowed to do something
that would get any other American thrown in jail.
It
ain't right. So let's change it
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