Machine Ethics for Gambling in the Metaverse: an “EthiCasino”

Abstract

Abstract— Online gambling produces a substantial turnover. Unfortunately for potential virtual world gamblers and gambling organizations alike, US law had forced the closure of gambling in the Second Life virtual world. However, an Open Grid Protocol could lead to the provision of off-shore gambling in this virtual world. Aside from legal issues, online gambling generally gives rise to ethical issues relating to prevention of harm. We considered the combined legal and ethical issues, and have proposed and begun to construct and evaluate a system with computational oversight: an ethical advisor. The system is grounded in recent research into Machine Ethics, which may offer insights into other legal and ethical matters, and provides a framework for responsible gambling in our EthiCasino (ethical virtual casino) in Second Life.