A Push To End the Online Gambling Ban 205
Hugh Pickens writes "Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts has introduced legislation that would roll back a ban on Internet gambling enacted when Republicans led Congress. The legislation would allow the Treasury Department to license and regulate online gambling companies that serve American customers. Frank's bill has roughly two dozen co-sponsors and the backing of the The Poker Players Alliance, with over a million members. But opponents are mobilizing to defeat the bill including social conservatives and professional and amateur sports organizations, which say more gambling opportunities could threaten the integrity of their competition. 'Illegal offshore Internet gambling sites are a criminal enterprise, and allowing them to operate unfettered in the United States would present a clear danger to our youth, who are subject to becoming addicted to gambling at an early age,' says Representative Spencer Bachus, Republican of Alabama and the ranking member on the House Financial Services Committee. Another powerful roadblock could be the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada. 'Gaming is an important industry to the state, and anything that affects it will be reviewed carefully,' says Reid's spokesman."
Holy Shit! (Score:4, Informative)
Harry Reid is going to review something carefully! I wondered what it would take, as countless violations of the US Constitution, the Geneva Convention, and human decency weren't sufficient. Now I know: you have to threaten a microscopic portion of Las Vegas's profits.
Re:Think of the children? (Score:5, Informative)
And how many people failed to attend college because they, or their parents, gambled away the college fund?
That is an argument which is sometimes made by the anti-gambling people, but really how many specific cases have their been where parents gambled away junior's college money? It seems to be a popular cautionary story that happens rarely in practice (i.e. a variation of the "think of the children" fallacy). This type of logical fallacy has a long and colorful history in our legislature, and it is easier to appeal to emotion rather than logic (i.e. "if you are against me then you are against the children, how can you be against the children?"), but that doesn't make the tactic right. The more that we use emotional arguments in our national policy the greater the damage that we do to our constitution and the values that our nation was founded upon.
I'm not saying gambling should be illegal, I just think it's silly to argue for gambling the perspective of the winners
Fair enough, but did you know that the US is presently in violation of the WTO treaties on trade with our present gambling laws? The treaties say that you can either ban all gambling or allow it, but that if you allow it then you must allow foreign competition (i.e. offshore internet gambling). In fact, a small caribbean nation (Antigua) actually won a WTO action against the United States on this very point and the United States is currently racking up fines and damages payable to Antigua for violating the treaty. What makes the whole thing doubly interesting is that Antigua has requested an unusual remedy, namely the privilege of ignoring US copyrights on movies, music, software, and other creative products produced in the United States.
Re:State? (Score:1, Informative)
Considering this is a matter about commerce between the US and other nations, no it's not a state matter.
Re:poker is NOT gambling (Score:3, Informative)
thanks for the plagiarism (Score:2, Informative)
Thanks for going to all that trouble html-formatting this pdf file [pokerplayersalliance.org] instead of just linking to it. Golly gee your karma must be soaring!
Re:poker is NOT gambling (Score:4, Informative)
Guess what they find? That the dealing is random, that some people are consistent winners and, because of the rake, most people are losers.
Has it ever happened that people have colluded at the tables? I have no proof that it has happened, but I am willing to bet my life that it has happened some times. Of course it has. The thing is, most of these colluders are not skilled enough to make money out of it. Playing good poker is difficult. Successfully colluding is actually no less difficult. If you are bright enough to do that, you can win alone, just as easily.
Think of it this way: assume that you are a winning player. Would it be to your advantage to play five out of ten hands on one ten-handed table, or to play one hand on five different tables? If you think the former is better you are completely incorrect.