Crackdown on SL ‘gaming’
Upon logging in Wednesday night I received the following message from Ravenous Dingo, The owner of the ALL-IN casino and the SLP gaming systems:
Due to the new LL policy, ALL-IN will be closing effectvie immediately. It is unfortunate that it had to happen but it is beyond my control. Since vendor spots have been gratis for awhile, all items will be returned later tonight.
Immediately I checked out the SL blog to get the pulse on this. According to the most recent post which rehashes current SL policy on wagering:
It is a violation of this policy to wager in games in the Second Life (R) environment operated on Linden Lab servers if such games:
(1) (a) rely on chance or random number generation to determine a winner, OR (b) rely on the outcome of real-life organized sporting events,
AND
(2) provide a payout in
(a) Linden Dollars, OR
(b) any real-world currency or thing of value.
This includes slot machines and similar games of chance.
Back in April of 07′ there was a post regarding how the Lindens would (or would not) handle advertising for SL based casinos.
This is getting quite interesting. Maybe the F.B.I. is breathing harder down the Lindens back. Maybe they ALREADY know what is and isn’t considered gambling with the currency that ‘has no value’.
We’ve been watching this rather closely here at VTOR, and frankly I’m not totally surprised. But I am bummed about the entire thing. SL shouldn’t be known as ‘that game’, when it has so much to offer. What will happen to the value of the L$ ? What will happen to the value of the land?
The Lindex as of this writing is holding between 266-276/USD$1
As for me, I think I’m off to play in other worlds for a while…
July 25th, 2007 • 
Lestat • 
comment | July 25, 2007 at 19:26 | individual comment-link
The part about possibly bringing in help to enforce this as well as turning over information to the authorities sounds like just the type of “game” people will want to play — not. Amazingly enough, they still list “casino operator” on their business opportunities page here:
http://secondlife.com/whatis/businesses.php
What kind of casino operator can operate a “virtual” casino without any casino games? When are they going to change that? They are still advertising to new “players” a profession which is totally illegitmate based on their own TOS.
Whatever they do or don’t do with enforcement going forward, I’ve pulled the TD Dice Cube from my store and the only place it was still being sold on the web too (Onrez formerly SL Boutique). R.I.P.
comment | July 26, 2007 at 01:59 | individual comment-link
As I have always been virulently opposed to gambling in Sl, I have to say that I am happy that the casinos have had the plug pulled on them. Quite apart from the risk that they might draw people into gambling when they would otherwise not come into contact with it, there was never any way that LL could regulate gambling to ensure that the laws in RL which protect people from unscrupulous operators would protect them in SL.
Over the years there have been tales of people spending all the money entrusted to them by groups, of machines that vanish when they are due to payout, of machines which never payout and offer a 100% return to their operators.
I am assuming that it is still possible to run a casino if it pays out in tokens or items which are assessed as having no real value, but whether anyone will do that — and whether anyone will play such a game if it is running — I don’t know. In the UK there are attractions around piers and in funfairs which can be played by children because they pay out in sweets or tokens… I know little about US law, but I am assuming that when they specify that it is not ok to pay out on games of chance, in Lindens or currency, this is what they mean.
comment | July 26, 2007 at 05:01 | individual comment-link
In reply I was going to quote direct from the SL TOS section on the Linden dollar. Last night glancing through it it did say that the Linden dollar had ‘no value’. Interestingly enough it seems to have recently changed. This makes me wonder how many times the TOS has changed and we have not been notified.
I do believe that SL has plenty of content to keep some people playing the ‘game’. Not all of SL is gambling.
Of course it also says somewhere in there that they can change any of the rules at any time.
Whatever…
pingback | July 26, 2007 at 05:38 | individual pingback-link
[…] over at VTOR points to the most interesting part of all this: what will happen with the land prices and linden dollar now the casino’s can not return any money to the owners anymore. There is no need for them to […]
comment | July 26, 2007 at 06:40 | individual comment-link
(2) provide a payout in
(a) Linden Dollars, OR
(b) any real-world currency or thing of value.
So no candy either? And is that ‘real-world currency’ or ‘thing of value’ or ‘real-world currency’ or ‘real-world thing of value’. Otherwise you could still pay out in silks, cars and genitals. *grins* Well, as long as no one starts to argue that those virtual goods have a real-world value.
pingback | July 26, 2007 at 06:49 | individual pingback-link
[…] yesterday’s doom and gloom virtual gambling news Second Life casino owners and patrons might be tempted to turn to drinking, but we here at VTOR […]
pingback | July 26, 2007 at 08:14 | individual pingback-link
[…] Vint) i found what Lestat posted in VTOR about the most interesting part about all this: “What will happen to the value of the L$ ? What will happen to the value of the land?” now the casino owners will not have a reason to keep their L$ and […]
pingback | July 26, 2007 at 12:59 | individual pingback-link
[…] what now? The gambling sector has been shut down and with it, much of the ways for any free accounts check out Second […]