FBI investigates March Madness
p2pnet news | Off Topic:- Multi-talented US enforcement agency the FBI is at it again, expanding its area of expertise.
It’s looking into March Madness.
“Online betting on the tournament reached mass popularity this year via platforms available on Facebook,” says Casino Reports.
The FBI got involved because it, “suspected illegal activity under the United States federal law, banning any sort of online betting. It was illegal, it claimed, for the operators to take a cut, it said.
“This threatened to dampen the widely popular practice of college students, office workers, and just about anyone who have traditionally participated in NCAA college basketball tournament betting pools.”
In fact, CBSSports.com developed an application to make it easier for Facebook users to use betting pools, says the story.
They can, “fill out brackets and compare picks with their friends on the site,” but CBS’ LeslieAnne Wade is quoted as saying promoting online gambling was “not our intent with the application.”
Even before the NCAA men’s Division I basketball tournament began, more than 20,000 online pools were circulating on Facebook, said the Chicago Tribune on March 14.
“Many of the tourney pools have just one or two members at this point – the organizers – but other groups have already reached the hundreds,” it said, adding, “It is unclear how many are asking for money to play, but at least several are.”
The so-called “gambling operators,” “are folks who have created small March Madness pools for their friends with an entry fee around $20, but to the FBI those people run illegal gambling operations and brake the interstate gambling laws,” says OG Paper.
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Also See:
Casino Reports – Responses to NCAA Betting Inquiry, March 18, 2008
Chicago Tribune – Facebook sites face scrutiny for NCAA March Madness pools, March 14, 2008
OG Paper – March Madness pool online: Feds look into Facebook illegal gambling, March 15, 2008
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