Magnus Rothlisberger lost $1,153 gambling in Linden Lab's virtual world. "I wouldn't bet that much in a real life casino. But it had happened so quickly and it didn't seem like real money . . . until now." A revenue model for Second Life other than laughable avatar bumping? Reality check: there's only one reason to prefer the crude Benchmark-backed 3D environment over a purpose-built online casino. The Department of Justice, which tracks down online gambling in the US, and Paypal, through which many Second Life users fund their accounts, simply haven't grokked yet what's going on. If the online casino, pictured above, was ever busy, it would be shut down in a moment.

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