“GamCare is a registered charity that provides advice and help in addressing the social impact of gambling in the UK. GamCare spokesman Andrew Poole said:

“In achieving GamCare Certification, PokerStars have attained the highest standards in player protection and have demonstrated that they genuinely recognise the need to assist their customers in playing responsibly. We look forward to working with PokerStars in the future and in continuing to share their commitment to responsible gambling.”

PokerStars obtained verification after implementing a number of new initiatives which you may have seen for the first time last week on the online poker room. These include:

Age Verification – assuring that all UK players who play on PokerStars are of legal age.”

PokerNews (07/31/07)

“Underage gamblers usually get shown the door when they’re found gambling in Nevada. The punishment, if any, goes to the casino for not preventing it.

But now that’s changing. Don’t assume you’ll get a free pass if you’re caught gambling and you’re not 21.

Billy Dee Wallace, the underage Las Vegas man who tried to recoup his $600 loss at The Venetian by telling hotel officials he wasn’t old enough to gamble legally, is now being prosecuted on misdemeanor charges.

“The district attorney’s office approved prosecution,” said Gaming Control Board member Randall Sayre.

With all the violent crimes in Las Vegas, underage gambling wouldn’t seem to be a priority.

But Wallace pushed the envelope.

On May 6, the 6-foot-4, 220-pounder who supposedly looks closer to 30 than his real age of 20, played craps for more than four hours at five different tables at The Venetian. (This will be easy to prove since Wallace is on videotape.)

Las Vegas Review-Journal (07/16/07)

“A newly released report conducted by the Arizona Criminal Justice Commission shows an increase in the number of teens who gamble.According to the Arizona Youth Survey, 30 percent of 8th graders surveyed say they are frequent gamblers.

Twenty-seven percent of 10th graders and nearly 22 percent of 12th graders fall in the same category.

According to Tim Christensen in the Arizona Office of Problem Gambling, the most popular form of gambling among the teens is lottery scratch-off tickets. Christensen says those surveyed also prefer betting on sports and playing poker for money.”

KNXV-TV (07/06/07) [video]

“In an age when poker tournaments are a regular sight on ESPN and other stations; gambling is as easy as ever with the Internet; Texas Hold ‘Em cards being sold everywhere, including gas stations; and two of the world’s largest casinos are a relatively short trip up Interstate 95 and are constantly expanding, officials at Fairfield Warde High School are not standing idly by. Earlier this year, a gambling prevention program was piloted at the high school. It’s called WAUGE and stands for Warde’s Awareness of Underage Gambling through Education. While the high schoolers are too young yet to gamble at Mohegan Sun or Foxwoods Resort Casino, they will be 21 in a few short years.

“This is a prevention program,” said Dave Ebling, Fitts housemaster at Fairfield Warde. “We’re really looking to give kids knowledge about the risks of gambling…”

Fairfield Citizen-Trust (06/29/07)

“Preventing underage gambling dominated the discussion at Friday morning’s House Financial Services Committee hearing on Internet gambling.

Key witnesses offered conflicting reports on the effectiveness of identity verification measures. Jeff Schmidt, CEO of the identity-verification firm Authis, testified that current technology is inaccurate, failing 20 to 25 percent of the time.

Michael Colopy, Senior Vice President of Communications for another identity-verification firm named Aristotle, disagreed with Schmidt. He said that the technology is maturing, employing a multi-layered approach that is nearly 100-percent reliable.

The conflicting testimony will do little to ease congressional fears about Internet gambling in the U.S., prompting Buffalo State Business Law Professor Joseph Kelly to say that more hard data is necessary for regulation to gain traction…”

Casino City Times (06/08/07)

“There are ways to beat identity-and-age verification,” says Phillips, “and banks are getting damned all the time with people assuming false identifies but we ensure protection against prosecution or being sued.

“We do exactly what the law requires us to do. Consumers are wary of providing personal data and if they think the information they provide is not being verified they will very often provide false details. People lie a lot. There’s an awful lot of lying going on.”

Aristotle has a data centre in the UK, providing verification services for gambling websites.

“It depends on the country, it depends on the product and it depends on the law,” says Phillips.

“In California, people purchasing tobacco online have to have their ages verified against a database. They have to show that the address they provide is the same as the one on their credit card and the vendor company then has to make a phone call to the residence after 5pm saying that someone is trying to buy tobacco online. When the tobacco arrives it has to be signed for.

“The market for online gambling is growing very, very rapidly. An area where there is universal agreement is that action needs to be taken to keep minors out of online gambling sites.”

The Telegraph (07/26/06)

“Protect consumers – The regulatory framework proposed in this legislation would bring Internet gambling into the open, ensuring protections are in place to protect against underage and compulsive gambling”

Safe and Secure Internet Gambling  Initiative

“The fact is that gambling has become a fixture in our society. World-class poker competitions attract millions of television viewers, and it is easy to gamble — legally or not — on the Internet.

Most adults can handle recreational gambling. But many kids cannot.

Proponents of legalized gambling maintain that only a small percentage of adults who gamble — about 5% — become addicts. But what about teens and preteens?…”

The New York Sun (05/03/07)

“Underage gambling is a problem both onshore and offshore. While the government would like the public to believe that protections are in place to stop minors from gambling in brick and mortar casinos, at racetracks or on the lottery, studies have shown that minors are able to gamble in America and do so frequently. Fake identification is easily obtained, and in the case of lotteries often the merchants who sell the tickets aren’t concerned with verifying age.

Nevertheless, at least in a brick and mortar establishment visual contact can be made with the individual and identification can be requested, so if the minor is able to bet it is strictly due to the negligence of those monitoring the establishments. Online it’s not so simple since the individual is unseen. Filters are generally good for keeping very young children from visiting gambling websites, but teenagers usually can get around them. Besides, today most teenagers have their own computers, and even if they are using a family computer it is unlikely they will have the websites restricted by their parents…”

Major Wager (04/16/07)

“Children can learn a lot from the Internet–and they can also pretty quickly run into trouble, if they’re not careful. You parents out there are no doubt already grappling with the challenges of watching where your kids go online and what they see and do.

CNET’s Living with Technology feature “Keep your kids safe online” can help you prepare them, and yourselves, for these new rites of passage. This online safety guide features a number of articles, videos and do-it-yourself tips, along with forums where you can post questions and provide answers to your peers. It’s designed to be a site you can bookmark and check back with regularly.”

CNET’s Digital Kids Blog (04/15/07)