Wagerr your freedom?  Come on, that's a bit dramatic.  Right?  Maybe not...

I'm a huge blockchain supporter. I've spend thousands of hours of my personal time to assist in the advancement of blockchain because I believe in the "greater good" that blockchain can provide. One application that immediately made sense to me was sportsbetting....peer to peer....on a blockchain. It has the potential to be cleaner and simpler with less friction. No more explanation needed. We all get it. Yet sportsbetting on the blockchain hasn't taken off.....and I believe it is for one main reason....freedom. I would not be willing to risk my personal freedom for the benefit of the "greater good" when it comes to gambling. No way.

According to 18 USCS § 1955, it is a Federal crime to conduct an illegal gambling business which generally can be determined based on the following criteria: 1. Is a violation of the law of a State or political subdivision in which it is conducted; 2. Involves five or more persons who conduct, finance, manage, supervise, direct, or own all or part of such business; and 3. Has been or remains in substantially continuous operation for a period in excess of thirty days or has a gross revenue of $ 2,000 in any single day.

Now, lets take a look at Wagerr. It is a decentralized sports betting platform that is operated on its own blockchain. Criteria (1), the decentralized blockchain is not licensed anywhere (I'll get to Malta in a bit). Criteria (2), you may say that it is the masternodes that actually "run" the platform but the last few years has proved that no blockchain runs indefinitely without blockchain engineers and developers maintaining the network (ignoring actual development for now). Current Wagerr team members also are required to continuously update the available events for which betting is possible. I believe it is clear the current team fails criteria (2) despite the fact that no one organization "owns" the blockchain. Criteria (3) fails in that has been operating for more than 30 days.

So lets talk about Malta. Under a license search under the MGA website, the for profit entity (Wagerr Ltd) has a license for sports betting. However, the license is not for the Wagerr blockchain but for a centralized website. As of now, no sportsbook exists. However, to the extent a centralized for profit website it created, the license will not appear to extend to the decentralized sportsbook.

Some supporters of the project have been arguing that the project can not be shut down as it is decentralized in nature. However, with six Wagerr team members currently with public LinkedIn profiles (in addition to Wagerr team members that have been active in public forums) I would be asking broader questions about what happens to the project if the team members no longer have the freedom to actively conduct, manage, supervise, and direct the development and ongoing sportsbetting on the Wagerr blockchain?  Who is going to put up the new events so users can place bets?

State by state the ability to gamble on sporting events is growing.  The expansion is based on an orderly process which includes applying for state licenses to become legal operations in those jurisdictions. California and Nevada are two states that team members currently work full time on the Wagerr project.

Perhaps the states haven't been concerned about the project since the overall market cap of $WGR is less than $30 million....or perhaps once Wagerr is more broadly known the team will be less cavalier about operating an illegal sportsbetting platform and will consider becoming licensed in states in which it operates. Regardless of what happens, it would be a shame for Wagerr team members and masternode operates to get "rounded up" in a similar fashion as other illegal gambling operations. Especially, since at the end of the day, I completely agree that "sportsbetting belongs on the blockchain".

If I'm wrong....I'd love to hear [email protected]. 

Disclosure: I do not own WGR. I do not own any gaming or gambling tokens.