There is a new way to move money around the world and it is getting quite a bit of attention. One of the major bottle-necks in on line sports wagering has always been how to move funds from one place to the other. It seems that the federal authorities take exception to certain types of transfers while ignoring others.
American sports gamblers are particularly interested in finding a way to circumnavigate the feds when they wish to wager large amounts of money on sporting events. After all, it is their money, right?
At this point, full scale wagering on sports is legal only in Nevada so options have been somewhat limited for those seeking a piece of the action during big games in both college and professional sporting events. Of course, if you win big in Nevada, the tax man will be waiting at the door for his cut.
Recently we have seen the emergence of something new called Bitcoin and it seems to be getting a lot of attention. “Bitcoin is the new thing, the new rage,” said a big time player from the New York area, “There are great options out there and new Bitcoin betting sites springing up all the time. Often they offer better odds or bonuses for signing with them. I personally know of around 15 big money guys who are using it, so in total there must be hundreds.”
Industry experts expect Bitcoin to be only the first of many similar digital currencies which allow the legal restrictions on wagering to be avoided. It is the total anonymity of the transaction which bettors find so attractive. At present, the government has no way of tracking or tracing the source of the money as all transactions are fully encrypted and handled by a decentralized global network.
The technology employed by Bitcoin is, of course, incredibly advanced. It concocts a heavily encrypted piece of code, which can be purchased at simple online exchange websites such as BitInstant. Players can convert their currency into digital currency which can then be traded or used to make purchases on line.
No one knows exactly where or how Bitcoin came into being. It was supposedly the brain-child of a mad-genius hacker who, so far, has chosen to remain anonymous. At this point the feds can’t generate evidence that funds have been moved…even if they manage to trace the IP addresses. Just how much longer that will remain the case is anybody’s guess.
