Amidst The Crackdown, New Sports Betting Site Launches In The US

from the quite-a-risk dept

In light of the numerous arrests of online gambling executives in the US, you’d think that entrepreneurs would be staying as far away from this industry as possible. You’d be thinking wrong though. A new peer-to-peer sports betting site called Betcha.com is launching in the US, claiming to exploit a very narrow loophole in the law. The idea is that the site actually lets bettors renege on their bets, which, as they see it, means that there’s actually no gambling taking place. How, you might ask, are the bets actually enforced? Each user has an eBay-style rating that indicates whether they’re actually good for the money they owe. Thus, presumably, bettors with a history of not paying up will not find anyone to take the other side of the bet. It remains to be seen whether the government will take the same view of things as the company. While launching a startup is always risky for those involved, as the founder of this one say themselves, they’re literally betting their own freedom.


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Comments on “Amidst The Crackdown, New Sports Betting Site Launches In The US”

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17 Comments
Ajax 4Hire (profile) says:

Re: If the bomb does NOT explode and

and no one is hurt is it a crime?

Yes.

Betting on sports in the US is illegal except in specific offically sanctioned places (Las Vegas, Atlantic City, Indian Reservations). Whether money exchanges hands will be im-material to the Federal Government. They will arrest.

Don’t get me wrong, I fully believe it is a private citizens right to spend their money any way they want. Freedom to the tip of my nose.

But I also know that the US Federal Government is a “do as I say not as I do”, “You know what I mean”, fist in the velvet glove group. The US Government will find a way to arrest these web-site owners.

Good luck.

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