C'mon Lucky Seven!(Brief Article)

• Author: Gillespie, Nick

What it's like to gamble online

My quest for cybergambling action began around 6 p.m. and started at Yahoo!, where I used the site's "Recreation" heading to find almost 300 online casinos. Faced with such overwhelming choice (and $100 of REASON-supplied cash burning a hole in my pocket), I scrolled through the list of links and settled on the Kenny Rogers Casino. Yes, that Kenny Rogers - the country-singer-cum-chicken-magnate who has also portrayed a character called "The Gambler" in a series of rotten TV movies.

Such is the power of branding in cyberspace: Though I loathe Rogers - I've never forgiven him for the two hours I lost while sitting through his execrable 1982 movie, Six Pack - he was a devil I knew, as opposed to some faceless offshore operator to whom I'd otherwise be sending credit card information. Assuming his casino - technically headquartered in the wager-friendly Caribbean - ripped me off, I told myself, I could at least track The Gambler down and take it out of his ample hide.

As is typical with online operations, wagering at Kenny's place requires a free - though lengthy - download in order to play a variety of card games, slots, craps, and the like. I patiently monitored the process as my gambling jones grew stronger and my deadline crept nearer. After 40 minutes, the download was done, but my frustration with Kenny was far from over. When I went to install the program, there was a corrupted file, so I had to start all over. Finally, about an hour later, I was ready to register and buy some cyberchips via credit card. That turned out to be a nonstarter twice over. When I entered my actual U.S. address, I was told I couldn't gamble for "real money" and was kicked over to the electronic version of the kids' casino. Then, after I used a friend's address in a faraway country to get through the registration process, Kenny's e-cash setup wouldn't accept any of my credit cards - probably because they have U.S billing addresses.

It was still early in the evening - around 8 p.m. - and I was still eager to rattle them bones, so I wandered over to www.wheretogamble.com and clicked on its "#1 Best Bet," a place called the Aloha Casino & Sportsbook (www.alohacasino.com), which promised a $25 bonus for opening an account and no need to download any software. Despite some misgivings - I couldn't find any mention of a physical location for the operation, only an 800 number and an e-mail address - I was ready to play. The casino...