Most of the people in the Oval Office that day had vaguely heard of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, but we gave them a crash course in the so-called block-chain technology that underlies digital money and keeps trade in it relatively anonymous.
“A lot of very smart people think this is the radical future of money,” Director Sanford said. “So ask yourself: What would you do if you were Crowley and Bronson, two of those very smart people who think Bitcoin is the future, and you owned a huge e-sports company? Being entrepreneurs, you’re looking to the future, trying to tie your company to potentially radical change. What business would you want to be in? What business would it make sense to be in?”
No one in the room said anything. Sanford looked to me and nodded.
“Gambling,” I said.
“What?” the chief justice said.
“Consider these facts,” I said. “E-sports are the fastest growing participatory and spectator sport in the world. The only thing that isn’t happening there is what has happened with all other sports in the world: Betting. Wagering. Gambling.”
Carstensen said, “And now imagine a time in the not-too-distant future when you could bet on e-sports, all digitally, potentially from any computer in the world. And every smartphone. And every tablet. And all of the betting is occurring via hard-to-trace Bitcoin.”
Director Sanford said, “We’re talking billions upon billions upon billions of untraceable dollars. If it had worked, Crowley and Bronson could have been among the wealthiest people on earth, if not the wealthiest.”
“Who would take such a chance?” the House minority leader said, disgusted.
“Two super-nerds, young brilliant dropouts with no social skills and zero empathy for their fellow man,” Carstensen said. “They see little difference between real-life humans and game avatars. They’re all expendable. And they believed that they were so good at game theory and design, at thinking their way through the ramifications of every possible move, that they could cover all their bases. Only they didn’t. Evidently, the first time Varjan, the Hungarian assassin, was contacted by them anonymously, she attached some kind of electronic bug to her reply that followed it to the source. She knew who they were from the start.”
“Fatal mistake on their part,” Mahoney said. “I mean, they were good enough hackers to know the itineraries of every one of their targets, but they missed her bug.”
The Senate majority leader said, “Idiots. Congress would never have allowed uncontrolled gambling like that.”
I shrugged. “Congress might have if the president thought it was a good idea.”
All around the Oval Office, brows knitted and then heads turned to look at President Talbot, who appeared puzzled. “What are you saying?”
“I said that, hypothetically, sir, if the president thought unfettered gambling on e-sports was a good idea, their scheme might have worked. Such a president could have lent his popularity and influence to see it through Congress, sold it as a way to bring in new sources of revenue to do governmental good.”
“Well, hypothetically or not, I don’t support anything like that,” Talbot said. “Never have. Never would.”
There was silence in the room.
Director Sanford ended it by saying, “I’m sorry, Mr. President, but you must know that’s not true.”
The president raised his head and glared at Sanford. “How dare you tell me what I support and don’t.”
Carstensen said, “The Senate bill that would have allowed digital gambling as a means to collect tax revenues and so decrease the national debt. You’re familiar with it, aren’t you, Mr. President? You’re listed as a co-sponsor.”
Talbot laughed. “Young lady, do you know how many cockamamie bills a senator will cosign in a career? Hell, half the time you don’t know what it is you’re supporting. You’re just doing a colleague a favor. Making him look good.”
Sanford said, “So you don’t support digital gambling, sir?”
“I just said that, didn’t I?” Talbot snapped. “Frankly, I think this is outrageous. You don’t honestly think I colluded with these two clowns on the autism spectrum to overthrow the government just so they could make billions, do you?”