Betcha.com Shut Down By Authorities, Computers Seized

Nick Jenkins, Chief Executive of Betcha.com, was furious when the authorities told him he would have to shut down his recently launched web site, Betcha.com. According to authorities, the web site violates an Internet gambling law passed last year, but Jenkins vows otherwise.

Betcha.com does not accept wagers on their web site, nor do they guarantee that any wager made there-in will be paid up. They are, in theory, not an online gambling web site at all, as defined by the term "gambling" in US law.

Betcha.com is a community where adults may gather and commune, and if they desire, place wagers amongst themselves on anything they wish. Payment on the loss of such a wager is not facilitated in any way by the web site, rather through the honor system of the participants, who may choose to make payments in any manner they wish - or choose not to pay up at all.
"This is an honor-based betting platform," Said Jenkins. "How can you be gambling under a legal definition if you don't have to pay when you lose?"

Gambling, as defined by US law, requires a guaranteed payment of losses, which Betcha.com does not offer. Never the less, the company's computers were seized by authorities early one morning, before normal business operations commenced. According to a Seattle newspaper, agents entered the building Monday morning with a search warrant, seizing all laptops and computer monitors.

Jenkins was summoned Friday by the Gambling Commission, three days before the search warrant was applied, to talk about his web site. The short meeting ended, after which Jenkins told reporters, "They said shut it down or else. I told them the law doesn't apply to us. They said the law is a matter of interpretation."