Blaine Brount, a sophomore in Engineering, plays online poker in his apartment on Tuesday. He said he plays poker between 70 to 100 hours a week while at school.John Maloney The Daily Illini
In an era of eHarmony, Facebook and Hulu, it becomes easy to use the Internet for almost everything: Find a soul mate, tag some friends and watch favorite shows all with a simple click. The Nintendo generation has grown up navigating around this cyber world, and now some are cashing in on its profitability.
In recent years, online gambling has grown exponentially. After exploding on the scene in the late ‘90s, the cyber casinos have been surrounded by controversy and, until recently, older legislation has not been able to catch up with technology.
Under the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act passed in 2006, online gambling websites are illegal to run on U.S. soil.
However, there is no federal law that explicitly prohibits U.S. citizens from engaging in online gambling.
Although there are a lot of gray areas clouding the legality of gambling via the Internet, students continue to wager their money playing poker or betting on sports teams.
Blaine Brount, sophomore in Engineering, has played online poker since he was 18. After losing an initial deposit of $200, Brount said he invested an additional $200 and has not had to put any more money on the site since then.
Brount said he prefers to play Heads Up, a one-on-one game of poker which has bolstered his wallet sufficiently.
“I pay for my bills with what I make from online poker, and I am still building up and working on my game to get better and play higher stakes,” Brount said.
Brount hired poker coaches to help teach him strategy. He checked out books from the library. And he watched as his initial investment grew to over $15 thousand dollars in two years.
Stephen Jones graduated from the University in 2007 with a degree in finance, but has made a living post-graduation by playing no-limit Texas Hold ‘em.
“Before I graduated, I realized that it didn’t make any sense getting a job when I can make more playing a game that I love, so I just decided not to look for a job as long as it was going good,” Jones said.
Jones started playing poker online during the summer between his freshman and sophomore years, and soon realized that the game has less to do with the hand one is dealt and more to do with discipline, determination and the amount of time a player is willing to sacrifice. While in school, Jones said he played poker from 70 to 100 hours a week.
“Your biggest opponent is yourself,” Jones said. “You’ve got to be patient, and wait for good hands and good situations.”
John Kindt, professor of business and legal policy, said that problems can arise when students spend a lot of time gambling on the Internet.
“Students don’t realize they can get hooked,” Kindt said. “In high school, teachers tell you about drug addiction (and) they tell you about alcohol addiction, but they don’t tell you about gambling addiction.”
Brount said he does not see poker as gambling.
“It’s a game of skill that you wager money on,” he said.
Brian Montgomery, senior in AHS, said he occasionally bets on sports games on the website centsports.com. The site gives users their first dime to wager with, and they can build their winnings up from there. Montgomery said he avoids other forms of online gambling because he does not think it’s worth the risk.
“If I am going to lose money, I wouldn’t want to lose it to a computer screen,” Montgomery said.
For Brount, however, technology has helped create a safety net for his future, even if he does not go all-in and make a career out of playing poker professionally.
“What I’m trying to do is create options for myself,” he said. “I know that I definitely want to get a degree. I know that poker will be there to supplement my income, or be my main source of income, or whatever needs to happen.”
