In addition to sports betting, I occasionally like to play backgammon and blackjack online. Recently I noticed that more and more “celebrities” were appearing at the table – names such as Tom Cruise, Jon Stewart, and even Howard Stern. Looking for answers, I found this blackjack site that explained the phenomenon to me. Apparently people are registering these names as a form of online “vanity plates”. Using the names, the users are able to receive the VIP treatment at the virtual tables from both the site administrators and the fellow players. These names are called “Gold Usernames” and are frequently sold to the highest bidder through various aftermarket channels. In some countries this is considered a form of identity theft, even landing a Moroccan man a 3 year jail sentence for using the name of the prince of that country! The man was released after serving 43 days of his term due to pressure from petition signers and Human Rights groups around the world, but this case has raised awareness that in some instances, a username is not just a username. I can see this becoming an issue more and more in sports betting online as more and more “peer to peer” sites open up and folks are competing directly against other users rather than the house.