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Whenever I hear a great, and by that I mean totally bizarre, casino story I always try to get inside of the heads of the people involve.  We have the case of Ronald Page.  Here is a General Motors retiree that came across an ATM that allowed him to withdraw $1.5 million dollars, and no, this was not money Page had in his account.  So his next move is to visit three casinos in the city and try to make more money out of it.  I feel like that was a bad move as he managed to spend all of the money at the casinos.  So I have to question his thought process.  Why not take the money and hop on the plane, immediately to some foreign country where he could live like a god for the remainder of his days.

The only thing I can think is that Page felt the pressure was on and he needed to make more money fast.  I suppose he imagined that as soon as he walked away from the ATM with all that money he was on the lamb.  Maybe he even intended to return the money he took from the ATM and keep his winnings but never managed to make more money than he stole.  Either way, taking it to a casino was probably the least wise move he could have made.  And even if he decided to play a portion of it at the casino he should have diversified.  Use the money someplace else as well.

I am not quite sure what I would do if I came across an ATM that offered me an unlimited amount of money.  It sounds like the stuff of Hollywood fiction.  Perhaps that is the reason why retired a General Motors worker made a choice that would only make sense in the movies.  I case you do not know the story.  Ronald Page, a General Motors retiree came across an ATM that allowed him to withdraw over one million dollars, and know that is not how much a retiree from a car factory makes.  The money was not Page’s, it was just a glitchy machines.  I cannot blame Page for taking the money and running, but I feel like it was a major mistake spending all of it at a casino.  That seems like the least logical place for a person to spend that kind of money.

There are all sort of things he could have done to make that money work better for him.  He could have invested it into some very secure stock and never have to worry about money for himself or his family for the rest of his life.  For some reason he decided to spend all of it at the casino and left with nothing really to show for it.  That is what happens at a casino. I fully understand that Hollywood movie mentality of taking it to the casinos and hoping for a jackpot, but the odds in real life are not so good of that actually happening.

The story of Ronald Page gives me hope.  I am sure that everyone in this country has some sort of fantasy about accidentally coming into a lot of money. Some people will replay in their heads what they might do if they came across a briefcase full of money.  Others of course imagine spending a few dollars on slot machines and heading a mega jackpot.  I have often fantasized about the broken ATM that starts spitting out money.  That idea probably entered my head right around the end of the century when everyone was worried about that mayhem that was likely to be caused by Y2K.  Unfortunately, there were no slot machines spouting out endless reams of cash during the 2000 New Year festivities, however, that does not mean it has not happened.

Ronald Page was a retired General Motors worker that one day discovered that an ATM in Detroit allowed him to withdraw an unlimited amount of money.  Ronald Page did not think twice about this freakish opportunity and withdrew about $1.5 million dollars.  Not only did he take the money he decided to play all of it at three casinos around town.  He visited the Greektown Casino, the MGM Grand Casino, and the Motor City casino.  He spent all of the money at these three venues.  Unfortunately, it was not long before law enforcement caught up with him.  His defense attorney is pleading for a lowered sentence as it was not Page’s fault that the machine started spouting cash in the first place.

The states did not seem to waste time after the US Justice Department decided that there was not law on the books preventing them from regulating online casinos.  While not every state is in a hurry to regulate online gambling, some certainly are.  Delaware seems to be the only state that has managed to get legislation through on any level yet.  A law passed the Delaware House of Representative that would regulate online gambling, specifically slot machines and table games on the state lottery site.  The law will also allow for the wagering on National Football League games.  While Delaware might be the only state to have get legislation, thus far, through their system, other state are making headway as well.

Things work a little different in Nevada where the gambling industry holds tremendous sway since so much of the states revenue is dependent on the industry.  While no laws have been passed, Bally Technology has been granted permission to start developing software for online casinos by the Gaming Control Board.  This is a big step for the state and a huge opportunity for Bally Technology.  Bally Technology will now have to seek permission from the Nevada Gaming Commission.  Nevada is anxious to get the ball rolling on online casinos because they have an interest in preserving their standing as the industry leader for all things gambling.  This being the case I have little doubt that the Nevada Gaming Commission will approve Bally Technology and other manufacturers in the very near future.

For many years now online gambling has lived in a very strange state of limbo.  If you ask most people they would say that online gambling and online casinos are illegal, but that is not exactly the truth.  The industry exists in this very strange state of limbo where it is neither legal nor illegal.  The industry simply exists in an unregulated state.  The United States, until recently did not exactly support online gambling, but at the same time no American user has been convicted for using such a service.  It has confused me for a long time as to why the United States would allow this condition to continue for as long as it has.  Clearly if the industry was regulated there would certainly be American companies prepared to make the service reliable and trustworthy and also the longer the service remains unregulated the more people that will fall victim to sites that will not be held accountable for their actions.

It is not as if gambling is not a legal practice in the United States so it seems strange to me that the states would wait so long to regulate a service that so many citizens are using.  Regulations are necessary simply on the basis of consumer protections.  It would have been silly to even attempt to make online gambling illegal, then that would have pushed the industry underground and then it would have been likely even worse of that the limbo state that it is in now.  The sooner states start regulating online gambling the betteroff the American consumer will be.

It has been a long hard road for the states to get regulated online gambling.  I have been following articles for years where people like Barney Frank has proposed bill after bill on a federal level and have come up short on votes.  Now that the United States Justice Department has ruled that it is well within state power to regulate online gambling many states are trying to be the first to introduce the new form of wagering.  In states like California there is yet another hurdle to jump beyond Federal regulations, it is the Native American tribes.  In California the tribes are claiming online gambling still falls under the control of the monopoly over video gambling.  I think this is sort of a stretch but it got me to thinking: Why have the tribes not already move forward with online gambling?

This is especially true of tribes in states like California where they do have a clause like the control over video gaming that they can argue.  It seems like a total missed opportunity on the part of the tribes to not have already pushed for online gambling.  I do know that there are tribes in Canada that have already used their tribal nation status to get involved in the very lucrative online gaming business.  Perhaps the tribes of the United States have simply made the same mistake that many brick and mortar gambling companies in the country have made.  They sat back on their brick and mortar laurels without giving much thought toward the future of the industry.

As I  have said before, I support the Native American tribes of this continent on most things, however there are certain things, particularly involving the Internet, that I do not think anyone should be allowed to use the entitlement card to gain control.  The point of view of some of the California tribes is that they are entitled to take control of the potential California online gambling market.  Their reasoning is that they have already been granted control over video gambling and in theory online gaming is just another version of video gaming.  While I see their point it is well known that this is not what was remotely in mind when the law was written.  I feel there is a very big difference between server based gaming or mobile gaming and the video poker machines that the original law is referring to.

The United States government tried this very same thing under the Bush administration and I was against it then also.  There was a push by some conservatives that opposed regulating online gambling that the Wire Act forbade the regulation of online gambling in the states because it forbids gambling over phone lines.  The Wire Act was written way back in the 1960s, long before the Internet was even a twinkle in Al Gore’s eye. I do not think it makes sense when people try to twist old laws to apply to things that have precedent.  I suppose I understand it though.  In both cases it has been people trying to hold on to power.

I have no problem saying that in most situations I completely side with the Native American people before I even hear the argument.  Of course there may be some exceptions, but as a rule, if their demands are within reason I say give these people what they want.  It is the least that the United States can do for the enormous role we played in one of the greatest genocides on the face of the Earth.  There are many states that are going to have to face the Native American influence before they have a chance to move forward with online gambling.  This will certainly be true of states like California where much of the gambling is being controlled by the Native American tribes.

However, I have to wonder if the control that Native American tribes have over the gambling scene of some states should be continued with online gambling.  There is something about online casinos and the Internet itself that says fresh start and a free market.  There is little chance that brick and mortar gambling will just dry up completely.  But simply due to the nature of the Internet, I do not necessarily think it is fair for any group to be guaranteed a piece of the new market.  This is not even a situation that states have the power to control.  Even though there will be several states that will offer online gambling on their lottery site, they are going to have a tough time competing with private companies like Zynga when online gambling goes mainstream in this country.

It seems like the only state that does not seem to be risking breaking its own neck by falling over other states to be the first to regulate online gambling is California.  Nevada has a lot to lose if some other state leads the way and sets the industry standard for online gaming.  Nevada has become synonymous with the gambling industry in this country.  To this day every state looks for new trends and new technology to come out of Nevada first.  On the other side of the coast New Jersey would like to be the first because they have a lot of rebuilding to do ever since states like Pennsylvania popped on the scene with new gambling markets that are ripping apart what used to be a kingdom that belonged exclusively to Atlantic City.  Perhaps California is not in so much of a rush because the state is somewhat guaranteed a big piece of the online gambling market.

Even if California does not set the industry standard for how other states manage online gambling, California will always have the Silicon Valley.  While the innovation of the Valley will not be as direct a profit to the California state coffers, there is certain to be new industry and business opportunities in that area of California simply due to the fact that online gambling obviously depends on computers, servers, and mobile devices.  California will have a big part to play in the future of online gambling even if they do not develop legislation for online gambling for the next five years.

Ever since the United States Justice Department ruled that the Wire Act does not affect online gambling and therefore there are no laws on Federal level that prevent the states from regulating online gambling, many states have been in a mad dash to do just that.  Nevada is of course in a hurry to get the law right because for several decades they have led the nation in gambling trends and standards and they do not want things to be any different when it comes to online gambling.  New Jersey has made it clear that they would like to be the first to introduce regulated online gambling.  Since the development of other gambling industries in neighboring states, New Jersey has been fighting desperately to hold on to what they have left of a gambling market.  They feel like leading the way in online gambling could be a big win for the state.

However, true to the stereotype of their citizens, California does not seem to be in any hurry to pass legislation with regards to online gambling, particularly online poker.  Delaware has already made headway in getting a bill passed their House of Representatives, however a bill in California was just defeated.  Even with the rest of the country hungry to establish themselves in this new market, the supporters of the bill in California do not seem to be discouraged.  The attitude seems simple.  The bill was not right for the state.  When it is right for the state online gambling will then be regulated.