What's Wrong With Online Gambling?
That's what's on the British and American gambler's mind...
http://www.broadcastnewsroom.com/art...e.jsp?id=77291
I'm not a gambler (unless you count the stock market) but I couldn't believe it when the US suddenly passed a law to ban online gambling. Smells funny to me...
It must have been passed to kowtow to Vegas-based gambling interests, because it sure as hell doesn't pass the freedom to choose test.
Frankly, the affected companies (and countries) should sue the US.
www.lp.org
http://www.broadcastnewsroom.com/art...e.jsp?id=77291
I'm not a gambler (unless you count the stock market) but I couldn't believe it when the US suddenly passed a law to ban online gambling. Smells funny to me...
It must have been passed to kowtow to Vegas-based gambling interests, because it sure as hell doesn't pass the freedom to choose test.
Frankly, the affected companies (and countries) should sue the US.
www.lp.org
Comments
I agree nonetheless that major casino and state lottery interests had a hand in the pot.
you need a disqualifier on your post - you either own shares in internet on-line gambling companies or not..
From one side it looks like a purely political decision by US for election gain. Along prohibition-like lines - Support us and we crack down on the naughty gamblers.
It may or a may not be challenged by the WTO - However, I don't see how it stops on-line gambling as basically the internet is quite a difficult beast to control - those that want to gamble will find a way in off-shore accounts etc.. The UK argument will be regulation is better than prohibition.
From another side it could be a kind of partisan decision like you imply. The UK was looking pretty dominant in that market region and now those particular companies have been crushed. Forced into, for e.g. selling their US businesses for $1 and shares at like 10% of previous value etc. When/If there is a problem with this law in the WTO and if the US looked like it might amend the law the ground would be set for US companies to come in and take loads of market share IMO.
That said these UK companies that previously ran the show are simply not so squeaky clean as they might appear and in some cases the major owners are just scum. The joke is they can't travel to US now or they'll probably be arrested. So swings and roundabouts really...
My disqualifier: I don't own shares in these types of companies.
Someone may have decided to sign up for military service because of the great college fund benefits, but as a result they may go to war and be killed in the line of duty. It was their decision to sign up.
Another person may decide to try heroin at a party because their friends are all doing it. They may get hooked on it and die as a result. Did anyone hold a gun to their head? No.
Finally, I have zero financial interest in those gambling companies. This is about governmental intrusion on your personal freedoms and obstructing free trade, extremely important parts of our right to choose. America is being turned into a nation of mindless babies, imagining that life owes them something, and they have no resposibilities.
Ok, why not make everthing legal? Why can't I just go buy out heroin at will?
There's a very good case for allowing you to do just that. Drugs' illegality makes them dangerous, unreliable, expensive, makes treatment difficult, causes violent crime, causes property crime, fills prisons with victimless "criminals", builds and funds vast criminal networks which deal in other things that are actually reprehensible, destabilizes whole countries.
We make laws that are in the best interests (usually) of the citizens. Where there's potential for more harm than good, then those laws are necessary. That's why we have seat belt laws,
There's always more potential for harm than good. Always. If I wanted to, I could stand up right now and in five minutes do things that a subsequent lifetime of saintly existence could not offset. So this is no reason to restrict beforehand what people do.
The impact of wearing a seatbelt is personal, therefore I shouldn't have a say in whether you wear one.
you can't drink and drive, etc.
Now this is different. Drinking and driving affects everyone else on that road whether they want it or not. You have no right to endanger others, at least not as long as you are on a public road.
You didn't answer the basic question, what is so good about gambling that it's critical that we have it online? All gambling does is take money away from the user and give it to the big companies or government that owns it. That's why they can afford to build the Bellagio or Paris hotels. In the case of gambling, it generally hurts the poor more than anyone, this is especially true of state lotteries (another bad idea).
For one, I should be allowed to choose my own entertainment.
Secondly, what's gambling? Is poker gambling? I want to play it to have fun and get wealthier, not to gamble or try my luck. Some other fellow at the same table might be having fun gambling.
Ok, why not make everthing legal? Why can't I just go buy out heroin at will? We make laws that are in the best interests (usually) of the citizens. Where there's potential for more harm than good, then those laws are necessary. That's why we have seat belt laws, you can't drink and drive, etc. You didn't answer the basic question, what is so good about gambling that it's critical that we have it online? All gambling does is take money away from the user and give it to the big companies or government that owns it. That's why they can afford to build the Bellagio or Paris hotels. In the case of gambling, it generally hurts the poor more than anyone, this is especially true of state lotteries (another bad idea).
Since Gon already eloquently addressed all of your questions, I'll just address the last point.
State lotteries ARE a bad idea. What in the hell is the government doing in the lottery business? I'll tell you what. Scraping money off it's "citizens" and calling it beneficial because some of the money goes to 'helping the kids'. Pure, unadulterated bullshit, buddy. Governments cannot control lotteries, houses of prostitution, taxes, etc., without dipping into the till to enrich itself. This is a truism applicable to all of human activities, which unfortunately includes systems of government.
"That government is best which governs least." -Thomas Paine
Gambling doesn't addict people. People do.
From our childhood days we have been taught that greed is immoral and can lead us to a lot of problems, I think the same applies for the online gambling too, as most of the people who are financially duped are not due to the case of they being addicted to this game alone but their greed has a major contribution in materializing their downfall, for instance a high percentage of gamblers whom I have know have too much greed and consequently have set up utopian goals for themselves but unfortunately these never pay off.
I guess notions of greed are instilled by our (often) poor parents as an excuse to feel better about being poor. I'll tell you, the rich are not only different from "us", they also make no bones about it. I've been around some extremely wealthy people recently, and they certainly have a different perspective on life. Money is not really the point anyway, power and influence is.