Phone texts could be used to place bets

If signed by President Bush, this new law makes it a crime for banks, credit card companies and other financial institutions to transfer funds to Internet gambling sites for American gamblers.

Obviously those gamblers will look for alternative ways of raising the money to bet online. And maybe the UK has already set a precedent in this arena. When Premium Rate SMS was used to pay the subscription fee for an online porn site, that is.

Those INQ readers with long memories will recall that it was O2 (now owned by Telefonica) which was caught out in the scandal. The mobile phone operator was forced to admit "We are looking at the process whereby payment is collected by mobile to see if there are additional safeguards we can introduce."

In other words, there were loopholes which enabled unscrupulous companies to charge for premium rate text messages without any need to ascertain exactly what the payment was being made for.

The INQ would argue, therefore, that the payment could be used to raise a stake which could then be used to place a bet online.

It's just a thought. µ

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