Posted on 10/13/2006 5:03:36 PM PDT by KDD
EDITORIAL: Internet gambling 'ban'
Americans are playing poker online? Oh, the humanity!
Of the myriad policy crises churning on the horizon -- entitlement insolvency, illegal immigration and runaway federal spending among them -- congressional Republicans chose to spend the little political capital they have left on an Internet gambling ban.
With brick-and-mortar casinos in nearly every state and card games breaking into network television, millions of moralists found it unbearable that Americans were wagering about $6 billion per year on the Web. That their neighbors might be playing poker or placing sports bets from the comfort of their desk chairs demanded federal intervention. "Ban it!" they cried. "Misguided citizens will lose their homes! Their children will starve! Families will be destroyed!"
Never mind the folly of legislating leisure. (That Prohibition thing was a rousing success, wasn't it? And certainly, no sports wagering takes place outside of Nevada.) Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., was determined to please his base with a new law before November's election, no matter how flawed or misguided it might be.
The cause was so preposterous it couldn't win passage as a stand-alone bill. Sen. Frist first tried to attach the Internet gambling ban to a defense appropriations bill. No luck. So he slipped it into port security legislation that passed the House and Senate early Saturday. A Bush administration official indicated the president plans to sign the bill into law.
And so no children will be forced into homelessness, their parents now prohibited from using personal checks, credit cards or electronic fund transfers to pay off Internet bets placed with online casinos and sports books. The costly, irresistible temptation of playing games of chance on personal computers has been eradicated. Right?
Wrong. Not only did Sen. Frist have to lard up the ports bill to win passage for his pet project, he included enough exemptions to rival the IRS tax code.
The bill permits Web-based betting on horse racing and for state lotteries. It also allows state-licensed casinos, once authorized within their jurisdiction, to construct Web sites with online poker and casino-style gaming. And these casinos would be allowed to provide links to other states and countries where gambling is legal.
So rather than deliver a "ban," Sen. Frist merely cut off the American market from online gambling sites based in Britain and the Caribbean. Like most heavy-handed regulations, this "ban" is really just thinly veiled protectionism.
"In order to get this bill passed, they (Republicans) sold their souls. They gave so many exceptions that it's now a wide-open area," attorney Tony Cabot, editor of the Internet Gambling Report and co-editor of the Gaming Law Review, told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
This Internet gambling "ban" is nothing close to a ban at all -- and that's a good thing. It's foolish to think the Internet gambling genie can be stuffed back into its bottle. Technology is driving the evolution of the gaming industry, so it makes perfect sense that regulated American companies should be allowed to conduct business with their millions of customers through the World Wide Web.
The bill could bring some short-term pain to MGM Mirage and Harrah's Entertainment, which use Internet poker sites to place some entrants in their own poker tournaments. But they'll figure out how to rebuild their qualification networks. The opportunities now available to Nevada gaming companies are staggering in their scope.
"The casino lobbyists in Washington, D.C., thought this was a pretty good deal. It's actually better than that," Mr. Cabot said. "It really opens up the field. It knocks out the offshore companies, and leaves the legal licensees open to take their positions."
It remains to be seen, however, whether the American conservatives who demanded this legislation will think it's a good deal. More likely, they'll realize sometime soon that they've been taken by a sucker bet.
More like tired of them pandering to Indian casino interests.
Of the myriad policy crises churning on the horizon -- entitlement insolvency, illegal immigration and runaway federal spending among them -- congressional Republicans chose to spend the little political capital they have left on an Internet gambling ban.
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After this election is over, and everyone had better pray the libs do not get control in Washington, I will be dumping the Repubs. They are USELESS WIMPS who do not fight and represent the weakest politics in Washington -- yeah, we must spend time on internet poker while our country continues to suffer the ravages of runaway spending and illegal immigration all hosted by a complacent, vote-mongering Congress that is totally useless to America --- it only serves itself.
Anyone else tired of GOP pandering to the religous right?
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Don't be daft. This had nothing to do with the religious right. This wasn't even on the radar scope of most social conservatives. This was the casino lobby masking a move as that of the religious conservatives.
The "religious right" are wondering what they have to show for the past five years at all.
Most of the money is going to gambling websites outside our country. Who knows where the money is going?
Maybe not, but there's a pretty vocal minority of them who'll argue in favor of it.
Frist, Kyle , Leach and Goodlatte all used "morals" and "family values"(forthechildrenandgod) to push more government control over banking and the internet. Read their statements. If you can't find them I will post them here for you.
I don't know whose idea this was, but it sucks anyway. Nonetheless, with the exceptions put in, it shouldn't be long until the Nevada casinos partner up with California Indian casinos to bring us internet gambling for things like hold 'em to a new level!
The only reason this happened was they couldn't figure out how Uncle Sam was to get his cut.
I don't gamble online and it'd take lots of work to gin up a braincell or two worth of care about anyone else gambling online.
Besides, you can still gamble your nest egg away in 10 minutes if you choose. Just sign up for an online brokerage account and start "playing the market".
If they alienate the other 3/4 of the party who do not care for false piety in politicians or government enforced morality of actions that are private in nature then the GOP could be gazing on an electoral landscape as bleak as that which existed for the GOP in the years following Watergate.
Still I've seen gambling ruin people's life and can't help but believe internet gambling would take this destructive potential to the nth.
Agreed, this was about Las Vegas, Atlantic City, and Indian Casinos getting protection. This has nothing to do with the religious right.
The same could be true of any imports. Most online poker sites are based and regulated in the UK. This bill is an excellent way to tick off one of our few real allies.
So does drinking, smoking and overreating...how about we ban all that too. I'M SO SICK OF THE GOVERNMENT TELLING ME HOW I CAN SPEND MY MONEY.
So does drinking, smoking and overreating...how about we ban all that too. I'M SO SICK OF THE GOVERNMENT TELLING ME HOW I CAN SPEND MY MONEY.
Exactly. They had to specifically add an exception for securities trading in the bill, otherwise ETrade would be illegal.
Also exemptions for sports betting(which the NFL demanded) and horse track racing.
Hypocrite's
If this is true, then Frist deserves a medal.
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