Spring 2014 issue of Horizons

GAMING

Regulating Online Gaming: A Focus on Security by Shaun O’Rourke

I n today’s digital world, brick and mortar businesses are finding that the key to the new generation’s heart is online. This reality extends to the gaming industry. Bloomberg Industries estimates the United States online gaming market will be a $23 billion dollar industry by 2023. Internet gambling was illegal, under the Interstate Wire Act of 1961, until December 2011, when the Department of Justice issued a letter ruling that changed its position. The ruling stated, “interstate transmissions of wire communications that do not relate to a sporting event or contest fall outside the reach of the Wire Act,” effectively lifting the veil on internet gaming. This monumental

decision has paved the way for online gaming to become the new frontier for the U.S. gaming industry. While the federal government has lifted the ban on internet gaming, the United States gaming industry is rushing to help establish the rules, regulations and controls to properly regulate it. Currently, the regulation of this new industry segment is being defined on a state-by-state basis. In a day and age when we see headlines about cyber attacks disrupting online businesses through website hacks — most notably the recent seven-day shutdown of the Las Vegas Sands website — the question for online gaming is focused on how will the states choose to regulate online gaming and protect the consumers.

page 36 | horizons Spring 2014