SOME Hawaii residents dream of the day they will be able to pop into a Waikiki casino, wager on football games at a local betting parlor and pick up lottery tickets at the corner market. Betting is a
gamble on the ’NetBelieve it or not, gambling already is here and you don't even have to leave your home to take part.
It's called cyber-betting, where virtually any type of gambling known to man is just a few computer key taps away in the privacy of your own home.
There is one tiny little problem with on-line betting, according to Honolulu police: it's illegal.
What police will concede only privately is that Internet gambling is so unique, traditional anti-gambling enforcement methods won't work. There's no "house" to bust, there are no gambling records to seize and players don't even need to know a bookie.
As an investigative humorist, I felt I should explore this new phenomenon that turns every home in Hawaii into a virtual casino.
I looked at "Island Casino," one of the 20 or so popular on-line gambling web sites. I won't give you the actual web address because I don't want to appear to be promoting the use of these sites.
Like most of the so-called legitimate on-line casinos (legitimate, meaning they have a track record of actually paying off bets and not rigging games), Island Casino's offices are "off-shore," in the Bahamas or some such place. Theoretically, that keeps them out of reach of federal regulators.
To play, you first have to register on-line as a member of Island Casino and set up a bank account. I'm not clear exactly how this works, since I didn't go any further on the site than what non-members can see. But sources who have used the site say that you put money in an account to be used for wagering, convert some of it to "chips" and bet away.
You can bet on all types of professional sports, just as if you were in the Caesar's Palace Sports Book in Las Vegas. The odds are better on-line than what are offered by illegal operators in Hawaii. And, since you can't bet more than what's in your account, you can't compound your losses.
(Local lore has it that some Hawaii bettors are down more than $50,000 at the end of the football season because of loss carry-overs.)
THE on-line casino has almost every form of gaming, from poker to slots. One of the risks, Internet gambling analysts say, is not knowing if these games are all on the level. Unlike real casinos, these are not regulated.
Because you access the web by dialing up a local Internet provider, there is no way anyone can tell if you are viewing gambling web sites or the Monica Lewinsky Fan Club Home Page. And that's the problem, from the Honolulu Police Department's point of view.
According to HPD vice Sgt. Glenn Yoshida, on-line gambling is illegal in Hawaii. Period.
On-line gambling also might violate the 1961 Federal Wire Statute, which prohibits transmission of bets by telephone lines. But according to Internet gambling analysts, that law was mainly to stop bookies from using the phone to take bets. It doesn't deal specifically with modems and the 'Net.
The first thing Island Casino tells you when you call up its site is that it is the player's responsibility to make sure they aren't breaking any local laws. The thing is, some people don't know what the local laws are. And my sources say they believe on-line gambling is legal in Hawaii. Period.
So, gambling is in Hawaii but you may be risking more than your money. Until someone gets busted and the case goes to court, Hawaii cyber-gamblers will simply be rolling the virtual dice.