Citing a need for increased debate on the creation of an international licensing and regulating standard for the online gaming industry, the Interactive Gaming Council this week published a position paper on the topic.
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"The options are pretty clear and simple. Be responsible and regulate the industry or allow it to operate in the shadows without the proper checks and balances in place."
- Keith Furlong
Interactive Gaming Council
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The IGC's deputy director, Keith Furlong, said the association was focused on drafting a minimum set of regulatory standards that could be used on a global scale. The position paper was sent to regulators all over the globe.
The nine-page document, which covers topics ranging from advertising controls and anti-money laundering policies to consumer privacy standards and fairness of games criteria, is designed to give jurisdictions and regulators a starting point in the discussion of how to deal with the industry.
"We aren't saying that any jurisdiction that chooses to regulate the industry should do it this way," Furlong said. "All jurisdictions have different standards and priorities with their licensees, and those policies take precedent over any position the IGC has."
Furlong said much of the focus in debates over regulation will be on the drastically different approaches taken by the United States and the United Kingdom.
"There is a dramatic diversion of concepts between the two (countries)," he said. "The U.K. is embracing the industry with thorough and responsible legislation and regulation, while efforts in the U.S. still are focused on prohibition."
He added that the IGC would love to begin discussions with U.S. policymakers, but he doesn't expect a response from Washington.
"We won't get any feedback from the U.S. initially," he said. "The idea is to just plant the seed and then foster this into a high level of discussions."
Ultimately, he said, any government that tries to keep the industry away from consumers is fighting a losing a battle.
"The options are pretty clear and simple," he said. "Be responsible and regulate the industry or allow it to operate in the shadows without the proper checks and balances in place. Professor Joe Kelly said it best in the Wall Street Journal when he said, 'Trying to block Internet gambling from going on is like trying to empty the Atlantic Ocean with a teaspoon.'"
The IGC looks forward to getting feedback from those who received the paper.
"It will take time for the issues to be digested and dialogue to begin," Furlong explained, "but we are hopeful that by the early part of 2005, we can begin to get people to agree and create a basic set of international standards.
Click here to view the IGC's position paper.