The River City Group has already announced plans for its third annual conference on the Internet gaming industry: the “Global Interactive Gaming Summit and Expo.” The conference will be held in Toronto from June 5–7, 2001, and aims to be the world’s largest gathering of online gaming executives, suppliers, and regulators. Participants will be invited to attend seminars chaired by industry leaders and experts, and an exposition that will feature the latest wares of over 40 vendors to the online gaming industry. Topics to be discussed include marketing issues, payment solutions, technical delivery systems, legal concerns, and responsible gaming. In addition, special presentations will offer insight on how the industry is progressing in Australasia, Africa, Europe, as well as North America.
Scientists Counsel Congress on Internet’s Future
Yesterday, the National Academy of Sciences’ National Research Council, a congressional advisory panel, presented Congress with its report entitled “The Internet’s Coming of Age.”
The report urges lawmakers not to mandate laws regarding the Internet in an effort to address concerns such as pornography and gambling. Andrew Blau, member of the panel and one of the report’s authors, says that Congress should focus on laws and enforcement that target individual responsibility. “If gambling is illegal in a state and people in that state choose to gamble, we shouldn’t hold the Internet responsible for the activities of its users,’’ says Blau.
The committee counseled Congress to refrain from blaming the Internet for problems that occurred long before the global network was created. “The Internet has re-raised certain social tensions about things like privacy, anonymity, or the role of taxation,’’ says Blau. “The message for legislators is: ‘Let’s not ask the Internet itself to solve the non-technical problems that it’s raised.’ There are lots of vegas99bet benefits generated by the Net, let’s not undermine those successes by responding to those changes.’’
