-Caveat Lector- <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/"> </A> -Cui Bono?- from: http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,34555,00.html Click Here: <A HREF="http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,34555,00.html"> There's Gold in That E-Casino</A> ----- WIRED MAGAZINE Issue 8.03 There's Gold in That E-Casino by Declan McCullagh 7:00 a.m. 25.Feb.2000 PST ANGUILLA, British West Indies -- Warning your customers that the government wants to put you out of business is not a typical marketing approach. "So revolutionary someone is bound to shut us down!" proclaims the new online gambling venue called The Gold Casino. Visitors to the site, which quietly launched last week and claims it has already paid out four-figure winnings, can play traditional casino games including poker and blackjack. The Gold Casino differs from rival online casinos by allowing gamblers to use e-gold, a true gold-backed Internet currency, to place bets and collect earnings. That may solve one of the thornier problems plaguing other virtual casinos: How lucky customers can escape with instant winnings. In the U.S., Congress is weighing legislation that would severely restrict Internet gambling -- even if the Web site is based in a country where gambling is legal. In 1996, state officials reportedly collected $3 billion in taxes and licensing fees from casinos and other licensed gambling operations. Because other sites use credit cards, there are currently no other betting parlors that let winners transfer earnings out of the casino and into their personal accounts instantly. To date, the e-gold currency, invented by Delaware-based Gold and Silver Reserve, hasn't been widely adopted. But recently a handful of sites have begun to test the e-gold payment system instead of using more expensive and cumbersome credit cards. The realgoldlotto.com, for example, sells lottery tickets for one-tenth of a gram of gold, roughly US$1. "Nobody ever thought that the casino would be this successful," said Jim Ray, an "evangelist" who works for e-gold in Melbourne, Florida. "E-gold account holders were evidently looking for this." The interest in The Gold Casino among e-gold users has been so intense that Ray says the casino was able, in less than 12 hours, to repay a loan it took out from a metal leasing service to launch the venture. The casino is hosted by Elka Enterprises, a company that specializes in providing offshore Web sites in Costa Rica and the Bahamas. An Anguilla-based company, Interesting Software Ltd., which specializes in online gaming software, created the Web site and gaming system. "My company provided the software and the graphics were done by a briliant Brazillian desgn company tom-b.com," says J.P. May, a programmer with ISL. He said he's a "huge screaming fan of e-gold" and suggested the concept to his existing clients. An offshore company, "TGC Holdings," took him up on the idea and is running the site in the Carribbean, May said. The realgoldcasino.com domain is registered to Ian Grigg, a cryptographer who presented a paper at the Financial Cryptography '00 conference here Thursday. Grigg said he had purchased the domain on behalf of May. Copyright � 2000 Wired Digital Inc., a Lycos Network site. All rights reserved. ----- Aloha, He'Ping, Om, Shalom, Salaam. Em Hotep, Peace Be, All My Relations. Omnia Bona Bonis, Adieu, Adios, Aloha. Amen. Roads End <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance�not soap-boxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
