The WashPost reports that the U.S. government is having trouble “protecting” Americans from online poker, as online gambling Web sites continue to pop up. There’s a debate between social conservatives and civil libertarians over the issue, just another divide within the Big Tent of the Right.
[T]o some legal scholars and Internet gambling proponents, the government’s efforts highlight a widening disconnect between 21st-century technology and the 20th-century laws used to protect Americans from gambling. “Congress shouldn’t be trying to make criminals out of people who have taken the game from the kitchen table to the computer table,” said John Pappas, executive director of the Poker Players Alliance, a Washington lobbying group claiming just under 1 million members.
Although we don’t agree on everything, good old Barney Frank nails it.
Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), the sponsor of a bill to legalize online gambling, said that even today, “you can’t get a straight answer if horse racing is illegal. It’s total hypocrisy and mishmash.” He calls the ban on Internet betting “an outrageous interference in Americans’ personal freedoms.“
The article goes on to say that some legal gambling opponents don’t even see the need in regulating it, but instead, they want to completely “stamp it out.”
Yeah. Because prohibition always works.
In Washington, online gambling is a class C felony, legally equivalent to rape.
I’ve never played a game of Texas Hold’em, mostly because I always forget the rules five minutes after some poor sap tries to explain them to me. But Uncle Sam should have no right to take ban a game of poker between consenting adults.
Speaking of stupid legislation, Friday, Dec. 5 is the 75th Anniversary of the repeal of alcohol prohibition in this country. I’ll be celebrating.
1 Comment
December 2, 2008 at 1:50 am
To those politicians wishing to protect the public from gambling, I would say WAKE UP. You can’t put an end to a person’s compulsions and addictions by simply saying “well, we’re going to make it illegal.” I’ve said this time and time again on issues such as gun control – it’s not a problem with the Web site so much as it is a problem with the people using it. Compulsive gamblers aren’t going to see the downfall of online gaming and think “ok, well, it was fun while it lasted, right?” They’re going to find some way to do it anyway. And I have news for the government – people DO do it anyway.
The way I see, it’s not my fault that there are people out there who have no self control and can’t stop themselves from racking up debt. I shouldn’t be the one punished because other people can’t be responsible with their own money.
Long story short: Legalize it and quit jerking people around.