Law & Games Seminar

Anita Ramasastry, Could Second Life Be In Serious Trouble? The Risk of Real-Life Legal Consequences for Hosting Virtual Gambling:

Does Second Life’s gambling sector violate UIGEA? The creators of Second Life aren’t sure. Thus, at their request, FBI agents have been roaming the virtual landscape of Second Life to visit its virtual casinos.

In this column, I’ll examine whether UIGEA, in fact, applies to Second Life. Though the law’s language is not entirely clear, I believe a good case can be made that Second Life may have a duty, under UIGEA, to prohibit gambling transactions in its community — as long as its Linden dollars can be converted back into actual U.S. currency.