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Introduction

For better or for worse, the Internet offers new ways

of satisfying age-old human desires.  For the most part it

serves blandly virtuous ends, such as private correspon-

dence, public discourse, and legal commerce.1   Clean living

sells few stories, however, and buys still fewer votes, so

reporters and politicians tend to focus on the Internet's

salacious side.  They dwell especially on pornography and

gambling, both of which mix big money with powerful temp-

tations.  In the eyes of overeager regulators, however,

Internet gambling presents something even more shocking

than sex: the threat that entrenched gambling monopolies,

nurtured and sometimes even run by government officials,

might face new competition.

This paper describes the powerful demand for Internet

gambling, analyzes the forces arrayed against it, and

argues against its prohibition.  Attempts to outlaw

Internet gambling will inevitably fail.  The very archi-

tecture of the Internet will frustrate prohibitionists,

while consumer demand for Internet gambling and the

states' demand for tax revenue will create enormous polit-

ical pressures for legalization.

Public deliberation and government action will deter-

mine whether legalized Internet gambling comes slowly and

painfully or quickly and cleanly.  All facts indicate,

however, that sooner or later Americans will legally gam-

ble over the Internet.  We should welcome this inevitabil-

ity.  The legalization of Internet gambling will have sev-

eral beneficial policy impacts, and, as the Founders rec-

ognized, our right to peaceably dispose of our property

includes the right to gamble.  Lawmakers therefore can

neither effectively stop Internet gambling nor justify

their attempts to do so.

Consumer Demand for Internet Gambling

Americans love to gamble.  At least 56 percent of

Americans gambled in 1995.2   It was estimated that

Americans would wager more than $600 billion in 1998--

nearly $2,400 for every man, woman, and child.3   About $100

billion of that sum would go toward illegal bets on pro-

fessional and college sports, evidence that Americans

already pay little heed to anti-gambling laws.4   Having

already embraced traditional games of chance, Americans

will almost certainly extend a warm welcome to Internet

gambling, legal or not.