Should You Gamble With Your Traffic?
Charles Carreon
At this point in our discussion, I can think of two questions an online entrepreneur would ask. (1) Should webmasters sell traffic to online gambling sites? (2) To what type of gambling sites could a webmaster reliably send their traffic?
Here's my answer to the first question. Under current construction of the Wire Act as expressed by the DOJ, you could be charged with aiding and abetting violations of the Wire Act by selling traffic to online gambling sites that take sporting bets. If the DOJ decided to prosecute Internet casino gambling under the Wire Act, or if the Wire Act were amended to encourage such prosecutions, selling traffic to casino gambling sites would also constitute aiding and abetting a violation of the Wire Act. Additionally, you might be violating local laws within your state, which prohibit helping people make bets within the jurisdiction. Finally, you should realize that selling Internet traffic originating from Nevada to gambling sites outside the State would violate Nevada law which prohibits Nevada residents from making any Internet bets whatsoever except within the approved Nevada State Internet gaming system.
As to the second question — what gambling site you would trust to pay you honestly for your traffic — that is a tough question. Running a gambling business has a lot of risks, and plenty of fly-by-night operators who have disappeared, along with bettors' money, particularly in loosely-regulated offshore jurisdictions. Obviously, you want to avoid selling traffic to these sites, because you will be left in the lurch even before the bettors, in the event of a financial meltdown. And while bettors who want to be sure of getting an honest roll of the digital dice can sometimes obtain audited payout data from the most reputable online gambling websites, those websites probably don't give out that kind of data to their affiliates to establish that webmasters are paid for every conversion they send. While current advertised rates for website conversions offered by gambling affiliate programs sound quite generous, in any given case it will be a shot in the dark until you see your results, and then only if you have effective software from monitoring where your traffic goes and what happens to it. Most affiliate programs provide that data, but many webmasters distrust it. Obviously, if a website cheats its bettors, it will probably also cheat its affiliates. Which are those websites?
The Online Players Association has a list of casinos that are “not recommended,” and provides a lot of good information about bad online casinos, including news reports connecting management with fraudulent activity, the use of software that generates unfair results and just plain dishonest activity — games where bettors lose 100% of the time. This is one of the most useful sites I have seen helping players to avoid getting skinned in the gambling scams that proliferate on the Internet. One look at this site and any doubts you have that bettors are blatantly ripped off by “gambling websites” will disappear. And returning to the original question, if you wouldn't play there, why send them your traffic? Other industry watchdog groups are the Interactive Gaming Counsel, IGCCounsel.org, and the Fidelity Trust Gaming Association, FTGA.com, both industry organizations that support legalization and regulation.
At this point in our discussion, I can think of two questions an online entrepreneur would ask. (1) Should webmasters sell traffic to online gambling sites? (2) To what type of gambling sites could a webmaster reliably send their traffic?
Here's my answer to the first question. Under current construction of the Wire Act as expressed by the DOJ, you could be charged with aiding and abetting violations of the Wire Act by selling traffic to online gambling sites that take sporting bets. If the DOJ decided to prosecute Internet casino gambling under the Wire Act, or if the Wire Act were amended to encourage such prosecutions, selling traffic to casino gambling sites would also constitute aiding and abetting a violation of the Wire Act. Additionally, you might be violating local laws within your state, which prohibit helping people make bets within the jurisdiction. Finally, you should realize that selling Internet traffic originating from Nevada to gambling sites outside the State would violate Nevada law which prohibits Nevada residents from making any Internet bets whatsoever except within the approved Nevada State Internet gaming system.
As to the second question — what gambling site you would trust to pay you honestly for your traffic — that is a tough question. Running a gambling business has a lot of risks, and plenty of fly-by-night operators who have disappeared, along with bettors' money, particularly in loosely-regulated offshore jurisdictions. Obviously, you want to avoid selling traffic to these sites, because you will be left in the lurch even before the bettors, in the event of a financial meltdown. And while bettors who want to be sure of getting an honest roll of the digital dice can sometimes obtain audited payout data from the most reputable online gambling websites, those websites probably don't give out that kind of data to their affiliates to establish that webmasters are paid for every conversion they send. While current advertised rates for website conversions offered by gambling affiliate programs sound quite generous, in any given case it will be a shot in the dark until you see your results, and then only if you have effective software from monitoring where your traffic goes and what happens to it. Most affiliate programs provide that data, but many webmasters distrust it. Obviously, if a website cheats its bettors, it will probably also cheat its affiliates. Which are those websites?
The Online Players Association has a list of casinos that are “not recommended,” and provides a lot of good information about bad online casinos, including news reports connecting management with fraudulent activity, the use of software that generates unfair results and just plain dishonest activity — games where bettors lose 100% of the time. This is one of the most useful sites I have seen helping players to avoid getting skinned in the gambling scams that proliferate on the Internet. One look at this site and any doubts you have that bettors are blatantly ripped off by “gambling websites” will disappear. And returning to the original question, if you wouldn't play there, why send them your traffic? Other industry watchdog groups are the Interactive Gaming Counsel, IGCCounsel.org, and the Fidelity Trust Gaming Association, FTGA.com, both industry organizations that support legalization and regulation.