Gambling Banned in SL

I’ve long been interested in Second Life as an educational or serious games venue, and my discussion with Karl Kapp about the merits of SL versus World of Warcraft as appropriate venues for educational contexts still gets hits. But, there is a type of gaming in SL that, regardless of popularity, is now banned by corporate parent Linden Lab: gambling. Apparently folks could gamble using the in-game currency, which could then be converted to real dough. Or, probably more likely, folks could convert real money to Linden bucks then lose it all in virtual casinos.

Linden Lab is bringing SL into compliance with new US federal law that prohibits online gambling. Andrew, over at Gaming Today, suggests that SL folks will likely find loopholes such as virtual sports betting and office pools.

On the one hand, it’s a shame since SL gambling could have been used as a Petri dish for interested researchers. On the other hand, similar gaming (perhaps using fake virtual money) could probably be replicated without too much additional effort. Time will tell.