Online Gambling No Danger to E*Trade Baby
Possibly the funniest ad at this year's Super Bowl was the latest in the E*Trade series involving the investment baby. Why is it that a kid playing at a computer making stock trades is hilarious, while the thought of children at online casinos is terrifying?
Because the public is aware that controls and regulations exist to prevent actual child usage of stock trading instruments. The slogan may be "so easy a baby can do it," but everyone knows it can't really happen, with age checks and identification procedures in place.
Internet gambling could be as safe and childproof as Internet trading. The same software systems that effectively block adolescents from playing the market could block the same kids from playing the slots. But that requires legalization, licensing, and regulation.
And tonight's commercial even played with the idea of the baby wagering at golf. If investing had been banned by the US government and forced to become a black market industry, children would not be safe at E*Trade. Trading charges would go, untaxed, into the pockets of shady foreign operators.
Clearly, what online gambling needs to be as safe and innocuous as day trading is a similar system of licensing and regulation, with the accompanying transparency. Then everyone can laugh at ads about a baby millionaire having won a fortune at Lucky 18.
