Is this grounds for a class action suit

Whoa, and I thought I was having a bad hair day!

can the OP please point me to the section where LL has stated that they gurantee you can make rl$ selling anything in here and that they insure you will?

but you are and now we can't do anything about it apparently

I would love to know where LL advertised that you could make money in SL by running a casino. I know they advertise you can make money by creating things, games in particular, but I've not seen them mention wagering games.

Here's another scenario, starting with you selling hair and advertising that you sell hair...
- The federal government of the country that the provider resides in makes a law that prohibits RL banks from transfering money to/from hair sellers
- The provider makes an announcement that you can no longer advertise anything that has to do with hair
- The provider gets in an international scandal (or 3) over having, say, illegal shoes in their domain and makes it very, very clear that they will not tolerate anything illegal in their world
- The provider decides, possibly with the advice of the FBI who we know they've been talking to, that they need to ban hair sales from their world to be in compliance with federal law

And, all the above takes place over the course of 6 months or so..

Yeah that'll work. It will be SO good for SL's reputation. Add that to the German child porn stuff, and we'll have a winner!

the spirit of the op is more of a call to arms than a plea for advice imo.

If the OP is from a country other than the USA (read: one that does not have the same laws against online gambling) then assuming they had criminal intent is a bit misguided IMO.

Having said that, LL is in the USA and had no real choice but to ban gambling. Considering that the USA authorities have arrested foreign nationals who were simply making connecting flights on USA soil, any USA based company would have to be insane to take the risk.

Datreebear

Hehe I think he was mostly polling for interest and well doesn't look like anyone is interested. I also dont think that we can say yes or no on what can happen as to me this looks more like a contract law thingy as opposed to an internet law thingy or gambling law thingy.

Yes a lot of thingies here today...

I must say.. and this is my opinion before I was a resident for long enough to release that it is a "gamble"........


......... When i heard of SL, it WAS ADVERTISED as a place to make RL money. There was NO WAY for an outsider to know that it was extremely risky. You do not realize that until later on.

What LL needs to do is be upfront about how there is no CS at all, you`re always going to be on your own, and who cares if someone hacks your account and transfers all your money to another avi.

Chilly, I think I get what the issue is.
You feel you're paying a lot of real money and not getting much respect nor support and treated like you're just regular or freebie resident, you're being treated like everyone else except you're paying for multiple islands. The on top of what you've been doing to earn your virtual living is no more which makes things worse.
Sadly the truth is it doesn't matter how much money you give to Linden Labs there is current way of them dealing with us because there is only so many doing what they want to do deal with us.
Either you got to find something else within your islands that makes you appreciate and enjoy your residency.
Sadly I must tell you if you expecting to make profit or continue your hair selling business as you have its going to be impossible.
If you continue spending the money you are and expecting things to be different, you're just going be more frusterated.
Re-envision your goal for yourself and what you want to do there or cut your losses and do something else.
I am not a Lawyer but the only grounds I could see class law action suit happening is if enough people got fed up with losing tons of real life money by fraudlent means and we could prove LL had their hands involved in it but I seriously doubt that is the case.

I'm still looking for the 'you can sell hair' adverts. I'm desperate to sell mine.

Just to add my worth.

I know people want to see an end to this but just a point or 2 before you go waisting your money on Lawyers so we can all hopefully forget this issue as it is so finished.....

Ask yourself this.

Can you prove you had a legitimate business. (most probably not)

Was it Registered? (most probably not)

Can You show accounts to date for that Business (most probably not)

Did you pay any taxes in relation to that business (most probably not)

Can you show cause of loss based on your yearly accounts (most probably not)

They will be the first questions a lawyer will ask you and what will you say (most probably not)

So give us all a break and wake upto the fact that you cannot even prove anything!

i dont think internet gambling is illegal in the usa. i believe its more about how funds are transferred and so on. but i am not an attorney.

You would be opening up a huge can of worms for yourself if this actually made it to court. I hope your tax records are good, as I would expect a 3 year audit looking heavily into your revenue from SL.

The wording of the suit itself would be interesting, as it would surely include words like "casino" and "online gaming". The games themselves would likely be mentioned, games like poker, black jack, roullette, and slots. Do you really want to go on record saying that you offered such games?

Chilly, please take this advice. Nothing would be more amusing than you taking this to court or especially the media. I can see the sort of stories this could generate and they would be glorious. Not for you, granted, but for anyone that enjoys watching what happens to people that get caught up in a legal media circus of their own making, especially once you admit you were running an unlicensed online gambling operation.

If the IRS suspects fraud, they can go back to his first lemonade stand. The 3 year rule is just for general audit purposes.

What's this about gambling. I thought the OP was having a problem selling hair. Then again, if he was the guy who sold me my hair, I can see why he might have a slight problem.

To Larrie

You are soooooooooooo wrong!

Have you thought about just renting them out temporarily at little under cost so your able to at least get something instead of nothing?

It is a silly idea. If you can sue for that you can sue for anything!!!

Oh yes there is. It's called research. There's plenty of articles about SL business both online and elsewhere.

Just like in RL, those who research before starting a business have a higher chance of success than those who don't.

What, you can rent hair out. Now that's a thought.

I paid my taxes and I did nothing illeagle.

hahaha, I think the answer is clearly "No" from SO many angles, not the least of which is that most likely everyone was running illegal gambling to start with (Even if gambling IS legal in your country, and it's legal on line, and its legal to collect or pay on bets... in almost all cases it still requires permitting from your local government which I seriously doubt anyone here had)

But anyway, I just wanted to mention something funny that I jst read the other day: http://www.slhistory.org/index.php/Philip_Linden One of the things Philip Linden himself created in the nascent SL universe was a slot machine

No idea if it payed out in L... of if there even were an Ls back then...

Gambling is a fun activity for purly recreational amusement, I mean look how much gambling there is on NeoPets, and that's a children's site! Seems like there is still room for wagering FUN even if R$ are not involved. Make winning credits that can be redeemed for NO TRANSFER items from your store? Would still get people in to a degree. Would not be a money raping operation any more of course but... Clearly if a site like NeoPest can do it, SL could as well, given a clear set of rules that prevent any use of L in anyway.