Illegal Internet Gambling & SL

i would take that statement with some salt, it seems in a court everything is possible

I think this issue has been debated before, that is

Linden dollars are not legal tender

Linden Labs will not buy Lindens from you, but they will sell them to you for US dollars

Linden dollars do have what you could call a fungible value, however that fungible value does depend on another avatar (counterparty) buying them from you

In addition there is a clear statement from Lindens lawyer saying that Second Life is not primarily a gambling site

You can only "gamble" in game using Linden dollars (to the best of my knowledge) I have not seen a machine that directly takes US dollars or other legal tender

I agree it is a fine legal argument but given the above (especially the point about only being able to gamble using Linden dollars) it is up to Linden Labs to set the rules imho. The reason being you can only obtain and “play” with Linden dollars via a Second Life account

If lindens have no value at all then let's bring back dwell payments, rating bonuses, basic stipends...who cares about the state of the economy if lindens have no value.



Then why does LL sell $L's?? Others may have origionally applied the value but LL has decided on what they consider a "stable" amount for them and will sell $L's to keep that value stable if necessary. They may not have set the value, but the support it and try to uphold it.

People! Many of you seem to think that it is up to LL to decide the fate of casinos in SL. That is WRONG! The newly enacted anti-internet-gambling bill forces banks and transfer sites (MasterCard, Paypal, FirePay, etc.) to BLOCK transfers to and from ANY site which allows gambling or is a portal to gamble. Go read the freaking bill. What is happening here in SL falls directly into line with what the bill and now LAW is looking to stop.

Now, it is NOT up to LL is and when they will ban casinos and gambling, NO. It is up to PayPal and MasterCard/Visa. The new law places almost all the responsibility on to these banks and transfer sites. If a site has gambling available PayPal and/or MasterCard have been ORDERED BY LAW to cut off transfers and payments to those sites. If the banks do not, they face criminal actions and massive fines. It was only THREE years ago when PayPal was fined 10 MILLION$ for this exact thing. They are NOT going to let that happen again. On that note: There is NO WAY LL will risk having PayPal and others cut off their means of transfer AND risk prosecution (remember many of these Internet gambling sites which are being cut off are located OUTSIDE the USA. LL is located down the street from me here in the good old USA.)

Some of you also think that by LL saying "We won't buy those L$ back from you" that it is legal to gamble with them. That statement is invalid. The new bill covers ALL forms of payment for any bet; all that needs to be in place is risk and a return for one member of the party. Go to any judge and show him SL (PACKED full of casinos and slots, etc.) and you're doomed. It's not like we are being discreet about it. Log on and in the Popular Places folder you see almost all ASINOS!! WIN BIG!!! 98% PAYOUT!

Main point of this post, IT ISNOT UP TO LL, IT IS UP TO THE BANKS AND FEDERAL AUTHORITY, and what is happening here IS now illegal and if you think banks are going to turn a blind eye, you're in for a rude awakening. I give it less than three months before LL adds the new TOS violation of gambling in world, but I'd expect it any day now.

Heh...that will be great, then $L's really won't have a value because you won't be able to cash them out anymore.

Well, you could still sell them on ebay, etc. but by that time SL would be long gone and the L$ would be valued at about 1000000L$/1USD heh. Well, hopefully LL does the right thing and bans casinos. They just make the whole platform look bad anyway. It is very obvious that LL is trying to attract corporate entities and I don't think hosting illegal casinos will help them much in that regards. Can you see "SUN Microsystems" up on the popular places list alongside "BIG JACK'S CASINO!!! #3" I don't think so heh.

7 of the top 10 Popular Places are sex clubs. What do you think Sun would feel like being listed beside the 'Forced Fantasy', 'Hard Core Fetish' or 'Free Sex' listings? Lets ban all sex, prostitution, dance for money clubs, child play, porn shops, dildo shops, goreans, fetish groups, and anything else slightly offensive.

Have you people not read the official Linden Lawyer response to all this?

And isn't this forum for Resident Answers? Not speculation and trolling. And why the hell hasn't the moderator at least combined these 3 stupid threads into 1 so you people can all gripe in one place at least.

Yes, and it's quite clear he's drinking the corporate kool-aid too, with absolutely no understanding of the realities of the situation.

The remit of a lawyer is to help people get round the law, not to keep it. Hence the long waffly technical responses that just confuse people rather than actually admitting yes, you're right, but we are sticking our heads in the sand and pretending the truth is not actually happening so that we don't have to go through the hassle of kicking out all the gambling places in SL.

Lewis

Oh oh,another person in denial. Who wants to BET that 9 out of ten of these "It will be fine!" posts are casino owners? LOL.

There is nothing wrong or ILLEGAL about virtual sex. Gambling, on the other hand, IS illegal. People can play with virtual sex toys all they want, but by gambling or offering the service to gamble, you are BREAKING THE LAW.

well, if this new law does close that loop hole.

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