A social network can really say it has “arrived” when it attracts the attention of the law, especially when that law is the long arm of the Federal Bureau of investigation (FBI). Why is the FBI interested in keeping an eye on any social network? Betting pools.

Apparently it frowns on people who take the long standing office and bar tradition of a fun betting pool online. Last year internet gambling was made illegal in the United States, a decision still wreaking havoc for many off shore poker sites and online casinos. The decision is also the subject of several lawsuits, but the potential crackdown for sites like FaceBook will be a first.

Since online gambling is now illegal, if you bet real money in an online office pool on a social network, and then that real money changes hands in a payout, you can be charged with a crime. CBSSports is one of the companies who have been sponsoring betting pool players by offering rules and brackets that allow them to play with friends on the social networks. They call their FaceBook application “Tournament Brackets”.

Promoting online gambling was “not our intent with the application,” LeslieAnne Wade, a senior vice president for CBS, said. “These are new issues that are going to require new thought processes and new answers. [CBS will] look at it.”

Hopefully, even the staid and high strung FBI knows how ubiquitous the tradition of the office betting pool is and leaves the people alone who are betting and just having fun. After all, the average computer user doesn’t even see making a back up copy of a CD as illegal, so how can they know what a nefarious scheme a betting pool is?
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Entry was posted on Tuesday, March 18th, 2008 at 10:33 pm under Uncategorized.

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