Washingtonpost.com: Online Bracketeering

Byline: Robert MacMillan

It's a shame there are no statistics out there that can reveal how many reams of paper and gallons of ink Capitol Hill staffers sacrifice to the altar of bracketology every March. It wouldn't establish a direct connection to Congress 's inability to ban Internet gambling, but it sure would be interesting nonetheless.

OK, OK, I'm not being serious when I make that suggestion, but another year of " March Madness " does more than ever to highlight the fact that using the Internet to gamble -- already technically illegal under a 1961 law, 13 years before people even used the term "Internet" -- remains an easy pastime for anyone who wants to press their luck.

The online gambling industry brings in an estimated $3.7 billion to $10 billion a year for Internet operations, and represents a small but growing portion of the $80 billion illegal sports-gambling machine in the United States. American Internet users gamble on approximately 2,000 Web sites, according to a San Jose Mercury News article earlier this week. The story noted: "Moments after CBS announces the NCAA Tournament brackets, the real madness begins." As 28 million Americans drop a few clams each into their office pools, dial-up connections and broadband networks start buzzing with wagering activity: "In exotic locales such as Antigua and Costa Rica, hard drives spin and phones ring as Web sites process transaction after transaction."

In Indianapolis, all the while, NCAA officials try to remind America why 10 percent of the population is doing something not just illegal, but immoral. The association's director of gambling activities, Bill Saum , told the Merc "he worries that gambling jeopardizes the integrity of the game and puts student-athletes at risk."

(The NCAA posts all sorts of legal, if not lucrative, ways to enjoy the men's and women's tournaments, including photos, videos and other freebies. washingtonpost.com and most other major online media feature fun brackets for entertainment purposes only . Ahem.)

Internet gambling is barely a decade old, but it technically violates the 1961 Wire Act, which forbids using the nation's communications network for gambling purposes. Nevertheless, Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) and others have tried -- and come really, really (really!) close -- but failed to get bills to the White House that would specifically outlaw online betting. Credit card companies often won't let their customers pay up at online gambling sites, but the operators now use third parties to take the money straight from the bettors' bank accounts.

Just like the offline world, the Internet's prime sports-betting events are the Super Bowl and March Madness, the Merc explained. Why? "It's the convenience," said Mark Balestra , vice president of publishing for the River City Group , an industry observer, told the paper. "Serious sports bettors are not as likely to be interested in the entertainment that casinos offer. They just want the best price they can get."

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram ran a short piece querying recovering compulsive gamblers about using the Internet to bet: "In Gamblers Anonymous groups throughout the country, and in Fort Worth/Dallas, new members come in every week, and many of them have had their addiction fueled by online sports gambling. 'The access is so easy,' said Chris, a member of the Fort Worth chapter. 'When I was gambling with a bookie it was more difficult, and somewhat shameful. ... But online, I justified to myself that it was OK. Otherwise I wouldn't be able to do it. The mere fact that it was available allowed me to believe it was all right.'"

Dogs Playing Poker? That's Crazy!

North Dakota 's legislature is reviewing a bill that could legalize Internet poker, one of the most popular online gambling activities. The advantage? See USA Today : "'No one wants tax increases. This is a legitimate revenue maker,' says [Fargo] Rep. Jim Kasper . ... He introduced legislation that would allow Internet poker sites to operate inside the state. It has passed the House. Kasper says legalized Internet poker could bring in millions through taxes and fees. North Dakota's constitution would have to be amended, he says." USA Today also reported that the state attorney general's office got a letter from that pesky Justice Department reminding Bismarck that online gambling is ILLEGAL.

The DOJ must be using up a fair amount of ink in its letter-writing department. South Dakota Gov. Mike Rounds (R) signed a bill that would allow people to use e-mail and the telephone to bet on horse- and dog-racing in other states. "Existing law prohibits South Dakota businesses from starting Internet gambling operations. Violators can be punished for each bet on the Internet. The first illegal bet can bring a maximum penalty of two years in jail and a $2,000 fine. All other bets can bring up to five years and $5,000," the Associated Press reported . "The new law includes a tax of 0.25 percent on Internet or telephone bets placed on horse and dog races in other states. The revenue will support the operation of horse racing tracks at Aberdeen and Fort Pierre and help those who raise racehorses in South Dakota."

Internet gambling moves continue elsewhere as well, USA Today reported: Illinois and Georgia both are looking at allowing online lottery-ticket sales to state residents 18 and older.

You Don't Like It? Blame the Internet

The San Francisco Chronicle 's John Crumpacker blames the rising sea of "acronymology" and the "national compulsion to reduce everything to codified initials" on the Internet, at least partially. The trend turns noticeably worse in March, he said. "For most of the next month, those who watch sports, read about sports and, even worse, talk about sports, will be deluged by jargon unique to this time of year." The primary culprits? "E-mail and its hyperactive cousin, text messaging. One reduces language to lingo and the others substitute symbols for syntax. RU:)?"

We've heard from Crumpacker, now what about William Safire ? His only Internet focus at the moment appeared March 6, when he delineated the history of the term "pop-up" and mused on the way that U.S. Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and other members of Congress torture bill titles into acronyms: "Last month, the House Commerce subcommittee on which he serves marked up the ' Securely Protect Yourself Against Cyber Trespass act.' Though appearing to be an awkward translation from the Chinese, this anti-intrusion legislation was given that strained title to form the acronym 'SPY ACT,' thereby making the bill's name easier to find on a search engine like Google if you can figure out how to get around the unwelcome pop-ups."

A Different Kind of Sports Obsession

Kevin Kuwik is getting a working vacation from Iraq. The 30-year-old U.S. Army captain will be stateside Friday so he can fulfill his day job as assistant basketball coach at Ohio University when it plays Florida in a first-round NCAA Tournament game. After that, it's back to the usual way he follows the team's goings-on from Iraq: a $30 monthly Internet connection fee. And to keep in touch with the team, he keeps an online diary of everything that happens to him in the desert. See the column by John Romano in the St. Petersburg Times for more details. It's not a big tech story, but it's a very interesting read.

More Porn, Please

Gambling and pornography -- it's not exactly the family-friendly edition of "Random Access" today. You will remember that yesterday's column detailed a California assemblyman's failure to get a bill passed that would ban pornography on in-car television sets. Today, let's look at cell phones. According to Reuters , "Mobile phone users around the world spent $400 million on pornographic pictures and video in 2004, an amount that is expected to rise to $5 billion by 2010, despite the tiny screen sizes."

More from Reuters: "In mobile communications, however, pornography might not do as well as on the fixed-line Internet, because the screens are small and download prices charged by telecommunications operators are high, research group Strategy Analytics said in a report. 'In 2010 we estimate that expenditure on mobile adult content will represent just 5 percent of total end-user spend on mobile content services,' said analyst Nitesh Patel . ... Still, the $5 billion in porn revenues by 2010 is $4 billion more than Strategy Analytics had forecast until recently. It has upgraded its estimates, because adult entertainment businesses are aggressively building services, and customers are buying."

Reader Feedback

Today is the column's fourth day, which seems like as good an anniversary as any to mark with a dose of reader feedback. I wanted to print some responses earlier this week, but the editors said reader comments about my deteriorating mental health affecting the quality of my output didn't constitute substantive debate.

Reader Darin Carlson took issue with the headline "It Can't Happen Here, Can It?" in yesterday's column, in which I detailed a British effort to allow online parental monitoring of children's school records and progress. "It seems you are behind the times," Carlson wrote. "The system is called ParentLink and is maintained by each school district. It has been in place for a couple years in several school districts here in Idaho . I am able to access my child's attendance, grades, homework assignments, and calendar events all online. The school district even has a setup that automatically calls home should your child be marked as absent so you know if he/she is skipping school or not."

My apologies to the readers. I try to maintain a reasonably broad knowledge base, but once in a while something will slip through. I am always eager to hear about interesting ways that people are using technology in their daily lives, whether it be Internet gambling or monitoring kindergarten. Please send me e-mail with any interesting tips, controversies or issues that you want to share.

Send links and comments to robertDOTmacmillanATwashingtonpost.com.