How Does Illegal Gambling Work
How does someone stop gambling through the Gamblers Anonymous program? One does this through bringing about a progressive character change within oneself. This can be accomplished by having faith in - and following - the basic concepts of the Gamblers Anonymous Recovery Program. Sports gambling is a big, and largely illegal, enterprise. Gamblers wagered an estimated $4 billion on the outcome of the 2015 Super Bowl. Last year’s NCAA tournament involved approximately $3 billion worth of bets—and untold thousands of unproductive work hours spent on “bracketology.”. Illegal gambling changes across the years as states and the federal government provide more opportunity for games of chance that do not involve any skill or talent to take root in certain locations in the United States. However, illegal gambling is still a problem that some engage in and for which law enforcement can arrest a person or group.
Scenario: College basketball teams are playing in their respective league championship tournaments and soon the “NCAA March Madness” brackets will be announced. Many sports fans are accustomed to placing a friendly wager on a favorite team. Your office colleagues decide to set up a little game. It does not harm anyone, and participation is totally voluntary. Is it permissible?
Answer: While betting a few dollars on sports is often viewed as a harmless social pastime, if done at work it violates the Federal regulations that prohibit gambling for money or property in the Federal workplace. Predicting teams that will advance in a college basketball bracket purely for fun or picking winners to claim bragging rights in the office are not the types of conduct that generally raise concerns.
Federal rules on gambling prohibit employees from gambling while on duty, or while on government-owned or leased property, unless necessitated by their official duties. These restrictions apply not only to Federal employees, but also to members of the public at large, contractors, vendors, and exhibitors when on GSA-controlled property. The rules are found at 5 CFR section 735.201 and 41 CFR section 102-74.395. (CFR = Code of Federal Regulations)
Violations of the regulations may be cause for disciplinary action by the employee’s agency, which may be in addition to any penalty prescribed by law.
The only authorized exception is for activities and games that take place during the time period of the annual Combined Federal Campaign (CFC), in accordance with Executive Order 12353. However, CFC raffles are not synonymous with gambling when conducted in accordance with part 950 of title 5 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
Legally defined, gambling requires 3 elements:
- A game of chance,
- Consideration for the opportunity to play the game, and
- An offering of a prize.
A game of chance includes, but is not limited to, a raffle, lottery, sports pool, game of cards, the selling or purchasing of a numbers slip or ticket, or any game for money or property. Consideration includes a participation fee, a wager of money, and something of value in return for the possibility of winning a reward or prize. A prize would include a monetary award, or a tangible or intangible item. Examples include meals, drinks, administrative leave, gift certificates, tickets to events, or cash.
In addition to the OPM and GSA regulations, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO), Policy for Personal Use of Information Technology Resources, HHS-OCIO-2006-0001, section 5.4.3 (2/17/06), prohibits the use of government equipment, such as computers and e-mail, for illegal gambling activities. This includes related e-mails sent from a personal account if done using a government computer.
Violations of this policy may be cause for loss of use or restricted use of government equipment, disciplinary action, or financial liability.
Note that the Randolph-Sheppard Act which covers the existence of the convenience stores on campus permits them to sell state lottery tickets.
Smoking at work demanded the attention of employers for many years before the law eventually intervened. And with new super casinos in the UK and the expansion of TV advertising about gambling from this month, does online gambling present similar and worrying risks for employers?
Q Shouldour organisation have a policy dealing with online gambling in the workplace?
A IT policies should cover use of the company IT systems for internet access by employees. Many employers use filters to block access to certain sites. While most do not impose an absolute ban on personal use of the internet, the policy should have rules about when personal use is permitted and the categories of sites that may not be visited, for example, pornography sites.
Clearly, it is desirable to have such a policy and review it from time to time. In a recent judgment, Copland v United Kingdom, the European Court of Human Rights decided that the UK had violated the claimant’s right to respect for her private life and correspondence under article 8 of the European Convention in the way that her telephone calls, e-mail and internet use were monitored at work. The claimant would have had less chance of success if the employer’s policy had been clear about monitoring.
Q Can an addiction to gambling constitute a disability for the purposes of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA)?
A Disability for the purposes of the DDA includes a mental impairment that has a “substantial and long-term adverse effect on the ability of a person to carry out normal day-to-day activities”.
Addiction to alcohol, nicotine or any other substance is not an impairment for the purposes of the DDA. However, as addiction to gambling is not an addiction to a substance, it’s possible that an overwhelming gambling addiction may be a disability. Whatever the case, employers will have concerns for a number of reasons – for example, loss of time and reduced efficiency at work, domestic problems caused by excessive gambling that affect a person’s working life, and financial risks.
In its ’20 questions to ask yourself’ about compulsive gambling, Gamblers Anonymous says: “Have you ever committed, or considered committing, an illegal act to finance gambling? If you have a compulsive gambler in a position of trust, your business may be at risk.”
Q Can we monitor employees’ internet use to determine whether they are visiting online gambling sites during office hours? What if they are?
A The Copland case shows that monitoring can be in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights or the Human Rights Act 1998, in cases where it applies. A key issue in that case was that the claimant was not aware that her use might be monitored. It is essential to have a clear policy if you wish to monitor staff. Breach of the policy may then lead to disciplinary action.
Q Can we prevent employees from gambling online during their lunch breaks?
A Employers are entitled to decide what use for private purposes is made of the employer’s equipment, even after working hours. There could be a blanket ban – either no internet use at all or private use limited to specific times and excluding specific sites or categories of site at any time (for example, online gambling or pornography sites). The policy must, however, be clearly set out and communicated.
How Does Illegal Gambling Work In
Q An employee has used his company credit card for online gambling. What can we do?
Illegal Gambling Rooms
A A company credit card is generally issued for employees to meet expenses incurred on behalf of the company. This is not, however, universally so, and some employers permit its use for personal expenses that are recovered by deduction from salary or direct reimbursement by the employee. In the latter case, you may wish to consider expressly prohibiting the use of the company card to meet gambling expenses. Be cautious about deducting money from salary.
Q As forward-thinking employers, what measures should we consider to assist employees who are gambling addicts?
A As with alcohol addiction, the ability to assist an employee whose addiction is affecting work performance may be limited by the employee’s willingness to be helped and to do what is necessary to control the addiction. The fact that their job is at risk, coupled with offers of help, may be the trigger that is needed. Offering employee assistance programmes and, possibly, medical help and referral to such organisations as Gamblers Anonymous, are all possible options.
By Peter Cooke, head of European employment team, Covington & Burling