[extropy-chat] Re: Why bet only imaginary money?

[Brett Paatsch]

Alejandro Dubrovsky wrote:

> On Sat, 2004-09-04 at 19:43 +1000, Brett Paatsch wrote:

> > If the majority of scientifically literate investors are not bullish on
say
> > molecular nanotechnology, and they are in fact wrong in not being
> > bullish, then shouldn't their error be seen as all the greater
opportunity
> > to get more easy money by those who are sure molecular nanotech is
> > going to work?
> >
> but all bets are not about nanotech.

Sure, but even so, mixing bears and bulls on any issue would give the best
market.  And nanotech would be a good thing to have a market on. Its
already attracting plenty of commercial interest.

> > Or am I missing something?
> >
> you are probably missing the fact that a public idea futures playing
> with real money would be considered gambling without a license in lots
> of places.

Perceived and actual problems with different legislations across different
legal jurisdictions might have been a possible impediment to Robin taking
his idea further.

Its possible and apparently legal to bet in Australia over the internet.
http://www.centrebet.com/australian-federal-election-2004.php
I don't bet on sports but I was interested to see recently if it would be
possible to bet on the Australian federal election.  It is. Its the
sportsbetting places that offer it.

I think the law in this area in Australian has only been sorted out
relatively recently though (late last year or early this year sort of
recently).
I think I heard or read somewhere that Jamie Packer was looking at
internet betting as a promising future business area.

I don't know what the situation is in the US, it could be that it varies
state by state. If the US was a homogenous market (legislatively) it would
seem to be by far the most sensible place to start a for-real-money futures
market as it would have the biggest population of punters.

>  but i thought you were the lawyer, so you can tell me.  I
> always thought that was the main obstacle.

I'm not a lawyer. I am interested in the law. Some areas of it more than
others, but I have never done a full law degree.

Brett Paatsch