Prohibition vs. Regulation Debated As U.S. Bettors Use Foreign Sites

Even as bettors around the world gamble millions of dollars online, confusion reigns about the legal status of those bets and the companies that handle them. Critics of online gambling see the industry as murky and unregulated. "It's an underworld wrought with scams and schemes," said Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear (D), spearheading a state effort to block online bets. But to some legal scholars and Internet gambling proponents, the government's efforts highlight a widening disconnect between 21st-century technology and the 20th-century laws used to protect Americans from gambling. "Congress shouldn't be trying to make criminals out of people who have taken the game from the kitchen table to the computer table," said John Pappas, executive director of the Poker Players Alliance, a Washington lobbying group claiming just under 1 million members.