Internet Gambling From Las Vegas

Michael Arrington of Tech Crunch asks: Care to Swamble on That?   He's talking about a new Internet gambling platform that comes to us from - Where else? - Las Vegas. 

"Swamble is a new mobile-focused website that lets users place and accept wagers on just about anything they can think of. It’s a bit like UK-based Gottabet. But U.S. residents can’t legally use Gottabet because it allows cash wagers. Swamble, for now, allows bets to be settled only with things other than cash.

"The site is optimized for mobile use. Click “Create,” add a title and description of the wager, and tags. Other users then jump in and accept, and leave (generally) taunting comments. One of the early beta testers set up a wager that Transformers would have a bigger opening weekend than SpiderMan 3. The wager required the loser or losers (which turned out in this case to be the creator) write a blog post linking to the winner(s).

"These kinds of non-cash wagers won’t lead to a lot of success for the company, but the founders say that they will soon add a private wagering feature (where the government’s prying eyes can’t see what’s being bet on)."

But the government does have prying eyes and they've been watching in such remote locations as Antigua and Costa Rica, where Internet gambling is legal.  The US government says otherwise and have imprisoned executives based out of these countries for operating such Internet gambling enterprises.   

There are currently two bills before Congress that might ease the restrictions on Internet gambling enough for Swamble to take cash bets (HR 2607 and HR 2046). If that happens, they may be in a good place to capitalize quickly on the changes in the law.

The chances of these bills passing are quite low at this time.  The process would also take months. 

The company is in private beta but is giving out invitations pretty quickly. Sign up on the home page.

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Christopher Costigan, Gambling911.com

Originally published August 14, 2007 9:50 pm ET