Yes, the casino's license is held by a firm called Bardenac, but the substantial duties of operating the site - building it, advertising it, maintaining customer service - fall to a consulting company called Worldwide Media Holdings, which receives a percentage of all casino profits. Not only can you walk right into its San Diego headquarters, you can buy its stock on the Nasdaq. citizen can't trick the casino into letting him or her gamble, except in a free 'practice' area.īut for all that fastidiousness, Kenny Rogers Casino is essentially controlled by a company in the United States. And Kenny's site maintains a squeaky-clean distinction that many similar sites do not: A disclaimer in tiny type on several pages reads, 'This site does not allow for gambling for money by persons within the United States.' Unless you have a credit card registered with a non-U.S. The outfit that handles its cybercash transactions is in Toronto. It resides a few dozen miles off the coast of Venezuela, in the Netherlands Antilles. It's true that, in keeping with most people's perceptions of Web gambling, Kenny's virtual casino is not physically located in the United States. But in mid-1998, he authorized the construction and operation of Kenny Rogers Casino on the Internet (where Web surfers with credit cards can hold 'em and fold 'em until they walk away (or run).

The singer who immortalized 'The Gambler' is not, his associates say, much of a gambler himself. It's illegal for Americans to offer gambling over the Internet, right? That's why the industry is hidden in Caribbean shadows, right? Tell it to Kenny Rogers.

As famous names and established companies get involved, opposition to Internet gambling is appearing to crumble.

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