Bitcoin News

NPR aired a Morning Edition segment with host Cyrus Farivar (@cfarivar) in which Jerry Brito (@JerryBrito) was interviewed about online gambling and Bitcoin. Excerpt:

“The U.S. Justice Department has made it very clear you can’t just open an offshore casino online and start taking bets using actual money from the United States.  But last year a couple of entrepreneurs asked themselves ‘what if you were only betting with Bitcoin?’.”
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“Noone knows if bitcoin is money, a financial instrument, or something else.”
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“[Bryon Micon of SealsWithClubs.eu] says it might be tough for the feds to regulate what is just a piece of computer code and not real money.”

 - http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2013/02/06/171182974
 - http://bit.ly/UXWzZ4 (MP3 download)
 - http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=141530.0 (Further discussion of this broadcast)

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Caroline Winter (@caro_winter) wrote in Business Week on Bitcoin’s impact to online gambling.  Excerpts:

“Calgary-based Infiniti Poker, like several other new online gambling sites, plans to accept Bitcoin when it launches later this month. The online currency may allow American gamblers to avoid running afoul of complex U.S. laws that prevent businesses from knowingly accepting money transfers for Internet gambling purposes.”
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“Hajduk says Infiniti Poker will accept credit cards, wire transfers, and other payment options, but players in the U.S. will be able to play only using Bitcoins.”
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“On Black Friday [April 15, 2011], gamblers in the U.S. had more than $100 million in online accounts frozen. Nearly two years later, the U.S. government is still working to reimburse the players, who were not targeted in the crackdown.”
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“It’s unclear whether the government will go after Bitcoin gambling sites.”
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“Bitcoin gaming sites keep popping up. Erik Voorhees, director of marketing and communications at BitInstant, helped design SatoshiDice, a gambling site hosted in Ireland and owned by an anonymous investor. Since launching in April, the site has taken in about $15 million in bets, Voorhees says.”
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“Josh Strike, who in 2011 launched the Costa Rica-based Bitcoin casino site Strike Sapphire, says he makes sure Americans can’t access his games. [..] ‘I don’t want to get anyone in trouble.’ [said Strike]”

- http://buswk.co/132kSIk
- http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=134575.0 [Further discussion of the article]

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A post on CalvinAyre.com, a popular online gaming news site, addresses Bitcoin’s growing role in the online gaming business.  Excerpts:

“Because bitcoin transactions bypass traditional financial institutions, there’s less need for operators to collect reams of data from players. Indeed, many of the sites take undisguised pride in the fact that they require little more than a user name and an email address before letting a player wager.”
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“While some bitcoin gaming sites spell out in detail that they don’t accept players from certain countries, others don’t appear to care where a gambler might be located. That could bring them to the attention of US law enforcement, particularly those sites with .com domains.”
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“There’s no doubt that going forward, virtual currencies such as bitcoin will play an increasingly larger role in both the online gambling world and in the overall online economy, but for the moment, it’s still not quite ready for prime time.”

- http://bit.ly/O5NKey
- http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=105663.0 (Further discussion of this article)

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