Tuesday, April 10, 2007

US authorities are investigating gambling in the virtual reality world of
Second Life. The FBI has reportedly examined casinos that operate in the
game following a month-long crackdown on internet gambling. "We have invited
the FBI several times to take a look around in Second Life and raise any
concerns they would like, and we know of at least one instance that federal
agents did look around in a virtual casino," Linden Lab's vice president
Ginsu Yoon told the Reuters news agency. Linden Lab operates the
phenomenally successful online service. There are hundreds of casinos
operating in Second Life, but Linden Lab said that it had not received clear
guidance on gambling within the game. Second Life has its own currency, the
Linden Dollar, 250 of which are worth just one dollar. The US Department of
Justice has been operating a crackdown on internet gambling. It used a 1961
Act outlawing inter-state telephone betting whose application to online
gambling was disputed until last autumn when a new anti-gambling law was
passed.