By Angie Wagner
ASSOCIATED PRESS

Nevada's casino regulators got a lesson Thursday in how unregulated the Internet gambling industry is and how easy it is to play casino games from the family computer.

Internet gambling is banned in Nevada, but regulators in a state in which gambling figures so prominently wanted a crash course on the subject.

"We're trying to be aggressive," said Nevada Gaming Commission Chairman Brian Sandoval. "It's incumbent upon us to take the lead."

Today there are more than 700 online casinos, compared with just 15 in 1996. Cybercasinos accessible to U.S. players are headquartered offshore, from the Caribbean to Europe to Australia. Such gambling is legal in about 20 countries.

Commissioners quizzed panel members during a pro-con discussion about touchy issues such as how to prevent underage and compulsive gambling on the Internet.

Frank Catania, the former director of the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement who argued in favor of online gambling, said playing Internet games can be tracked and compulsive gamblers could be identified and banned from certain sites.

Sue Schneider, president of the International Gaming Council, an industry association that is asking the federal government to regulate Internet gambling, said families with children must be watchful to make sure they aren't using their parents' credit cards to gamble.

Catania argued that it is to each state's benefit to regulate Internet gambling. He said regulating online casinos involves several issues, such as making sure the games are honest and that players get paid.

"We have to regulate it because if we don't, it's going to happen anyway."

Gerry Waldron, a lawyer who represents the National Football League on gambling matters, said Internet gambling will only lead to trouble, especially with sports betting.

Banning online gambling, not regulating it, is the answer, Waldron said.

"The Internet has the potential to take sports betting to another level," he said.

Analysts say law enforcement agencies would have their hands full trying to implement a Prohibition-style ban. Like other Internet crimes, analysts say online gambling will be difficult to track since hundreds of thousands of people have computers in their homes.

Advocates say outlawing the industry won't stop players, just make them criminals.

Waldron argued that Internet gambling would allow college students to bet on sports events. "Sports and gambling don't mix," he said.

Betting on college sports is legal only in Nevada, although the Senate Commerce Committee voted Thursday for a bill that would ban the practice. There is also a federal prohibition against online sports betting.

Meanwhile, the House Judiciary Committee voted earlier this month to ban gambling over the Internet. The bill makes it illegal for anyone running a gambling business to place or receive a wager online. A similar bill passed the Senate in the fall.

Catania argued that those pushing the bill, sponsored by Sen. John Kyl, R-Ariz., don't want gambling anywhere.

"There is always some type of gambling. It's not going to stop. People have accepted it as a form of entertainment," he said.