Online poker is huge

Especially among college students. "See that guy who brought his laptop to class, the dude seated in the last row of the lecture hall? Odds are he's on partypoker.com or ultimatebet.com right now. The sophomore in the room across the hall who hasn't opened his door for 14 straight hours - and yet you know he is there? Chances are he is on paradisepoker.com or bodogsports.com," Sports Illustrated reports. More than $100 million in bets passes through more than 200 online poker sites a day, according to PokerPulse.com stats cited by SI. Teenagers, too, are into online poker (so far, sites can't verify age, but a credit card or online bank account is needed when playing for money). What's the attraction? Privacy, accessibility, anonymity, poker experience, and the chance to win money, SI says (for some disturbing anecdotes about students and the money involved, see this piece). Is it legal? In a word, no, not in the US - that's why all the poker sites are off-shore. But it's a "low-priority crime," SI quotes a law professor as saying. How about university policy? There's very little; some schools explicitly support it ("the Penn Poker Club receives an average of $1,000 per semester from the university's Student Activities Council"); other schools simply haven't gotten engaged; and very few provide counseling for gambling addiction. Here's the sidebar on the legal issues.