CBS Fails to Disclose Bias Against Online Casinos
CBS news program "Sixty Minutes" issued a report on the air Sunday night regarding the online poker scandals at Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet. The segment gave enough information that a viewer might be able to conclude that regulation of the online gambling industry may be a way to solve the problems in the specific and general cases discussed. But the program seemed to veer away from that point, instead referring to the untaxed and unregulated state of the industry as if that justified a problematic ban.
Perhaps the tilt given the story would seem less suspicious if CBS had been upfront about its corporate position regarding gambling. CBS Sportsline, a popular website for sports news, was itself linked to the sports gambling business through its sister site, VegasInsider.com. The site specialized in handicapping sporting events, and was known to promote gambling on sports, the number one no-no to authorities.
CBS Sportsline sold off the handicapping site, but Sportsline runs thousands of fantasy football leagues. For a fee, Sportsline handles online drafts, scoring, and player info for these competitions. Fantasy football has become a gargantuan business, and the NFL promotes the leagues as a way to draw new customers.
Even though fantasy football involves all the aspects of illegal gambling including consideration in the form of entry dues, reward in the form of payment to the top finishers, and randomness in the lack of control players have over opportunities or results of their NFL selections, the game is somehow ruled more skillful than poker.
This is largely due to the influence of vested interests like CBS and the NFL, which spend millions lobbying for fantasy games to be legitimate, and online casinos to be outlawed.
Even today, a visit to the Ft. Lauderdale headquarters of CBS Sportsline reveal an atmosphere rampant with sports gambling implications. One employee, speaking anonymously, said, "Every person working at Sportsline knows the lines on virtually all football games by heart. So many bookies are on speed dial, you'd think they had no other customers. For CBS to get all holy about sports gambling or Internet gambling is so hypocritical. All they want is to protect their own gambling income."
"Sixty Minutes" did an informative piece on the state of Internet gaming, but it didn't follow through to the logical conclusion. Perhaps if next time, the network admits its connections to involved parties, viewers will better understand why the obvious solution was ignored.
