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CNN Live Saturday
Interview With Bo Bernhard
Aired May 24, 2003 - 18:52 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: he goes by the name "Moneymaker," and it's fitting. With $2.5 million in poker winnings, 27-year old Internet gambler Chris Moneymaker qualified online for the 31st annual world series of poker. Today in Las Vegas, a full house sealed his multi-million-dollar take on the table. Brett Maverick, eat your heart out. Online gamblers are betting on everything, from poker to "American Idol" and the shows "Bachelor."
Bo Bernhard directs gambling research at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and he joins us now from San Diego. Boy, there are so many ways to lose money, aren't there?
BO BERNHARD, UNIV. DIRECTOR OF GAMBLING RESEARCH: It's amazing, we are a gambling nation, and we are finding more and more ways to lose our gambling money.
WHITFIELD: OK. Well, hopefully, you win a little bit if you are going to play. Well, let's talk about this Internet gambling. How pervasive has this become? How active?
BERNHARD: It's very big already. And again, this is one of those things that's very difficult to count, because most of the -- all of these Web sites operate offshore. But the most recent estimates indicate that probably about $4 billion is lost annually by Americans online in about 1,800 gaming Web sites. About 60 percent of those revenues come from the United States, as a matter of fact.
WHITFIELD; OK, four billion lost, and half of those folks are American?
BERNHARD: More than half of those folks, yes. We are -- again, we are a gambling nation, and we have been for a long, long time. But never have we had quite this amounts of access to quite an amazing variety of (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
WHITFIELD: So are you saying the people lose more than they win? If so, then why do they even play this game?
BERNHARD: Well, this has been the question associated with the field of gambling studies forever. We have long risked something of value on an event whose outcome is in doubt, be it "The Bachelor," or a game of blackjack. It's always intrigued us as Americans in particular, and it's something that now we find that there are new venues online that allow us to sort of scratch that gambling itch.
WHITFIELD: Well, let's talk about some of those venues, you talk about blackjack, poker being among those, people are betting on television shows. How are they doing this? What are the options?
BERNHARD: Well, you go online, it's as easy as signing on, getting a password and selecting a payment options of your choosing. And that's where it sometimes gets a little bit sticky. Credit cards are obviously, in many cases the payment option of choice, although that is getting a little bit more curios, as more and more credit cards block their use online. But it's a situation where we not only have access to more gambling games than we've ever had in our history, we also have access to more money which is not ours, through credit and its various configurations. So it could be a combustible mix for those (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
WHITFIELD: So where are those winnings coming from? Where is this money coming from?
BERNHARD: It's entirely based offshore. This is a situation where Ashcroft has said that the Wire Act, which was passed years ago, and covering transactions that takes place via the telephone and go across state lines, long ago the Wire Act said that that was illegal. So you could not place a bet on, for example, a California horse race from Nevada. Ashcroft has said that that covers Internet gambling as well. So this take place offshore, in places like the Isle of Mann, Caribbean nations, all over the world.
WHITFIELD: So who is playing, and are there age restrictions?
BERNHARD: There are age restrictions, in most of these areas, and that's one of the social costs that we need to pay attention to is underaged gambling.
WHITFIELD: Yes.
BERNHARD: And in many cases this is a difficult thing to govern. In a traditional casino, a brick and mortar casino, you obviously can tell whether an individual is old enough to gamble. Online, it's a little bit more difficult. Obviously, you can get a hold of your parent's credit cards or other sorts of digital cash and potentially play online. But they are looking into all sorts of technologies, from retinal scans to thumbprint (UNINTELLIGIBLE) that they use to make sure that you are identifying individual who is, in fact, gambling.
WHITFIELD: Oh, my goodness. Bo Bernhard of UNLV. Yet one more way for many of us to go into debt. That's frightening. Thanks a lot.
BERNHARD: Thank you very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired May 24, 2003 - 18:52 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: he goes by the name "Moneymaker," and it's fitting. With $2.5 million in poker winnings, 27-year old Internet gambler Chris Moneymaker qualified online for the 31st annual world series of poker. Today in Las Vegas, a full house sealed his multi-million-dollar take on the table. Brett Maverick, eat your heart out. Online gamblers are betting on everything, from poker to "American Idol" and the shows "Bachelor."
Bo Bernhard directs gambling research at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and he joins us now from San Diego. Boy, there are so many ways to lose money, aren't there?
BO BERNHARD, UNIV. DIRECTOR OF GAMBLING RESEARCH: It's amazing, we are a gambling nation, and we are finding more and more ways to lose our gambling money.
WHITFIELD: OK. Well, hopefully, you win a little bit if you are going to play. Well, let's talk about this Internet gambling. How pervasive has this become? How active?
BERNHARD: It's very big already. And again, this is one of those things that's very difficult to count, because most of the -- all of these Web sites operate offshore. But the most recent estimates indicate that probably about $4 billion is lost annually by Americans online in about 1,800 gaming Web sites. About 60 percent of those revenues come from the United States, as a matter of fact.
WHITFIELD; OK, four billion lost, and half of those folks are American?
BERNHARD: More than half of those folks, yes. We are -- again, we are a gambling nation, and we have been for a long, long time. But never have we had quite this amounts of access to quite an amazing variety of (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
WHITFIELD: So are you saying the people lose more than they win? If so, then why do they even play this game?
BERNHARD: Well, this has been the question associated with the field of gambling studies forever. We have long risked something of value on an event whose outcome is in doubt, be it "The Bachelor," or a game of blackjack. It's always intrigued us as Americans in particular, and it's something that now we find that there are new venues online that allow us to sort of scratch that gambling itch.
WHITFIELD: Well, let's talk about some of those venues, you talk about blackjack, poker being among those, people are betting on television shows. How are they doing this? What are the options?
BERNHARD: Well, you go online, it's as easy as signing on, getting a password and selecting a payment options of your choosing. And that's where it sometimes gets a little bit sticky. Credit cards are obviously, in many cases the payment option of choice, although that is getting a little bit more curios, as more and more credit cards block their use online. But it's a situation where we not only have access to more gambling games than we've ever had in our history, we also have access to more money which is not ours, through credit and its various configurations. So it could be a combustible mix for those (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
WHITFIELD: So where are those winnings coming from? Where is this money coming from?
BERNHARD: It's entirely based offshore. This is a situation where Ashcroft has said that the Wire Act, which was passed years ago, and covering transactions that takes place via the telephone and go across state lines, long ago the Wire Act said that that was illegal. So you could not place a bet on, for example, a California horse race from Nevada. Ashcroft has said that that covers Internet gambling as well. So this take place offshore, in places like the Isle of Mann, Caribbean nations, all over the world.
WHITFIELD: So who is playing, and are there age restrictions?
BERNHARD: There are age restrictions, in most of these areas, and that's one of the social costs that we need to pay attention to is underaged gambling.
WHITFIELD: Yes.
BERNHARD: And in many cases this is a difficult thing to govern. In a traditional casino, a brick and mortar casino, you obviously can tell whether an individual is old enough to gamble. Online, it's a little bit more difficult. Obviously, you can get a hold of your parent's credit cards or other sorts of digital cash and potentially play online. But they are looking into all sorts of technologies, from retinal scans to thumbprint (UNINTELLIGIBLE) that they use to make sure that you are identifying individual who is, in fact, gambling.
WHITFIELD: Oh, my goodness. Bo Bernhard of UNLV. Yet one more way for many of us to go into debt. That's frightening. Thanks a lot.
BERNHARD: Thank you very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
