Online bets will far surpass the telephone business.
Predictor: Simone, Michael
Prediction, in context:A 1995 article on online gambing by Yardena Arar for the Los Angeles Times was shared in a TechnoCulture Archive newsgroup discussion. In the article, Arar quotes Michael Simone. Arar writes: ”Michael Simone, the president and CEO of Sports International (USA) Ltd., insists there are no legal problems with the estimated $60 million in telephone and online sports wagers that the Philadelphia-based holding company’s 3-year-old offshore operation [in Antigua] expects to rack up by the end of the year. ‘If you talk to the Justice Department, they say that you may – underline may – be breaking the law,’ Simone said. ‘Our position is that you are conducting business with a legitmately licensed foreign entity. The laws on the books were made to convict illegal bookmakers in the United States.’ … Simone anticipates a time when online bets will far surpass the telephone business. ‘In order for us to as as big as the company wants to be, we couldn’t physically do it with phone operators,’ Simone said. ‘The only way for us to do it is with computers.'”
Date of prediction: January 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: Economic structures
Subtopic: Gambling
Name of publication: The Techno Culture
Title, headline, chapter name: Virtual Casinos Test Legal Limits of On-Line Gambling
Quote Type: Partial quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://technoculture.mira.net.au/hypermail/0033.html
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney