Monday, August 17, 2009

Quote of the Day: Cunning, Hypocritical Moral Pork

In 2006, Congress, cloaking cunning with moralizing, effectively outlawed Internet gambling by making it illegal for banks or credit-card companies to process payments to online gambling operations. This was more than moral pork for social conservatives. It also blocked online competitors from poaching gamblers from the nation's most aggressive promoters of gambling -- state governments. They are increasingly addicted to revenues raised by lotteries -- the 42 states that have lotteries spent $520 million in 2007 promoting them -- and from taxation of other legal gambling. The law exempted Internet state lotteries and two powerful and vocal interests -- online betting on horse racing and some fantasy sports betting online.

Having turned gambling, which once was treated as a sin, into a social policy, government looks unusually silly criminalizing online forms of it.

~George Will
Originally posted at Carpe Diem.

2 Comments:

At 8/17/2009 10:01 AM, Blogger bob wright said...

So much for the idea of a level playing field.

This is similar to Obama's Chicago-style politics.

- In speeches, demand a level playing field (put on the cloak of morality)

- In practice, clear the playing field of competitors

 
At 8/17/2009 11:51 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Online poker sites have been caught cheating numerous times, but millions still play. The casinos already lose money to it so there's no sense blocking it.

It's time to legalize, regulate, and tax online gambling. Having a certified legit place to play online would be worth a lot. You could even identify problem gamblers better. With advertising, you could even have rake-free poker.

I hate casinos. People suck!

 

Post a Comment

<< Home