SOURCE: Philadelphia Daily News

YOU CAN BET on Prince slipping off the stage at halftime during the Super Bowl if you want. Get good odds, too, 100-1 at last look.

OK, so maybe it should be higher, but if ol' what's-his-symbol does take a header, you will collect more than those who got a 35-1 payoff last year for correctly guessing that "Start Me Up" would be the first tune played by the Rolling Stones - upsetting the 10-1 favorite, "Brown Sugar.''

Through the magic of offshore Internet services, U.S. citizens with access to a computer have been able to gamble on this and so much more - like who will win "American Idol" or who will get fired first on "The Apprentice.'' And they have done so without the fear of the unsavory characters who once owned and operated this illicit industry.

"The Internet is clean and it's fun," says Brandon Lang, the tipster featured in the movie "Two for the Money" and on Comcast SportsNet during the football season. "It gets rid of the cornerstore bookies that you could get down $10,000 or 15,000 to, and then get your legs broken when you couldn't pay."

So why is the United States government seeking to shut it all down? Why are two Canadian businessmen, one a noted Calgary philanthropist, facing serious jail time as their hearing on money-laundering charges is scheduled to begin today inside a federal courtroom in New York?

Through a Canadian bank, John Lefebvre and business partner Stephen Lawrence are accused of channeling millions of dollars from the United States into offshore betting operations in places like the Isle of Man, violating a law passed in October.

Neither man is charged with accepting bets or paying out on them. That part of the equation is carried out by online services based in countries where gambling on sporting events is legal, and not under U.S. jurisdiction. They simply received a fee for acting as a middle man - betting brokers if you will.

Yet each faces as much as 20 years in prison if convicted. Why so steep? The government sees it as tax evasion and racketeering. U.S. Rep. Dave Weldon (R-Fla.) has even speculated that the money changing could provide an opportunity for terrorism financiers.

Cynics, and Lang is one, say it's simply because Uncle Sam has been effectively cut out of the action.

So rather than bust every PC owner who might be tempted to bet what color the Gatorade poured over the winning head coach will be, the Justice Department - emboldened by the October bill - has targeted banks and pay services that move the money from here to there.

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