Online wagering under attack in Congress

[BeauJangles]

This is a little rediculous... i understand gambling is illegal in many states, but isn't that usually because of the increased crime that goes with it? I mean most states have a state lottery where you can freely gamble all of your money away and that seems okay only because the state is collecting money off of it.

Why not tax online gambling or something instead of trying to get it banned?

Sigh.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060710/ap_on_go_co/internet_gambling

 

[spidey07]

On one side I can see reasons to prohibit Internet gambling, and I am a heavy gambler. It just makes it too easy. But man is it nice to play the ponies when I can't go to the track with just a few clicks.

However I certainly don't want gubment telling credit card companies what it's customers can and can't do with THEIR money.

This bill should rightly fall flat on it's face.

 

[Genx87]

Dont give them any ideas regarding taxing please.

 

[ayabe]

Right, the same argument can be made for a lot of things. People are going to gamble, so online gambling is at least somewhat out in the open, not conducted in back rooms, which inevitably leads to broken kneecaps and the like.

Just like drugs or alcohol, people are going to do them whether they are legal or not, so why not cut the criminal element out and tax the crap out of it.

 

[jackschmittusa]

I can go here in Ohio to a "Vegas Night" run by a charity, buy chips with my credit card, and sit down at a no limit Hold 'em table and lose as much as I want legally. I can hop on a bus for free and go to a casino in Detroit, Windsor, or Niagra Falls. But I shouldn't be allowed to gamble from the safety of my home?

 

[spidey07]

Why in the world should they tax it?

They already tax all winnings as income, which is pretty hefty. Heck I've already got about 5K reported directly to the IRS this year and have to pay taxes on it.

 

[Moonbeam]

Are you your brothers keeper? Do you save a drowning man or recognize he went into the water by choice? Do we stop healthy but depressed people who want to kill themselves? Should parents tell their kids what to do? Have you seen a libertarian moron whose views grow out of his ass?

If people want to gamble let the government run the system where anything you lose gets paid back and anything you win has to go to bets.

 

[Red Dawn]

I wonder what William Bennet think about this topic?

 

[CaptnKirk]

Indian Tribe Bribery Protection - all the money that Congress can steal for themselves.

 

[CrackRabbit]

The online gambling industry is based almost entirely outside the United States, though about half its customers live in the U.S.

That right there outlines why congress is up in arms about it. If these online casinos and card rooms were based in the US and regulated to the same standards that the gambling institutions here were I doubt it would be such a hubub about it.

And Spidey07, Internet horse gambling will remain legal due to the Interstate Horseracing Act, it allows for electronic and telephone wagering where state laws allow it.

 

[Moonbeam]

Originally posted by: Red Dawn
I wonder what William Bennet think about this topic?

Hehehe, Maybe, "Sh!t, that law would have saved me 7 million."

 

[alchemize]

It doesn't change anything. Very few people use credit cards to fund their online gambling accounts anyhow (unless they are degenerate). Everyone uses Neteller which is run offshore. And how would they ever be able to tell if your EFT transfer to Neteller is for gambling or for another valid purpose? It's no different than Paypal.

I'm stopping online gambling because I'm getting sick of the bad beats!

 

[smack Down]

Originally posted by: alchemize
It doesn't change anything. Very few people use credit cards to fund their online gambling accounts anyhow (unless they are degenerate). Everyone uses Neteller which is run offshore. And how would they ever be able to tell if your EFT transfer to Neteller is for gambling or for another valid purpose? It's no different than Paypal.

I'm stopping online gambling because I'm getting sick of the bad beats!

I'm sure bush is spying on both paypal and neteller. Along with everything else.

 

[alchemize]

Originally posted by: smack Down

Originally posted by: alchemize
It doesn't change anything. Very few people use credit cards to fund their online gambling accounts anyhow (unless they are degenerate). Everyone uses Neteller which is run offshore. And how would they ever be able to tell if your EFT transfer to Neteller is for gambling or for another valid purpose? It's no different than Paypal.

I'm stopping online gambling because I'm getting sick of the bad beats!

I'm sure bush is spying on both paypal and neteller. Along with everything else.

Do you have a point?

 

[Pens1566]

Gay marriage, flag burning, internet gambling, Terry Schiavo. Don't they have better things to do?? Balance budget, figure out that whole pesky Iraq thing, Nukes in NK, Iran next, better education, etc..

 

[piasabird]

If gambling is so illegal, then close all the casino's.

 

[Kadarin]

Gee, I'm sure glad I live in a "free country"...

 

[BoberFett]

Originally posted by: Moonbeam
Are you your brothers keeper? [snip the rest of Moonbeam's typical response]

No. End of discussion.

 

[Thump553]

Originally posted by: Pens1566
Gay marriage, flag burning, internet gambling, Terry Schiavo. Don't they have better things to do?? Balance budget, figure out that whole pesky Iraq thing, Nukes in NK, Iran next, better education, etc..

You are so right. From the news stories I've read, nearly all internet gambling services now don't accept credit cards-they get their money by other mechanisms. If this was a serious bill it would (a) include horse racing (excluded because of their powerful lobby and (b) actually be targeted to effectively outlaw the perceived crime.

As it is, this is just another cynical display of politicians wasting their time, and our money, by discussing toothless legislation designed to legislate morality.

It's a shame because I personally feel this is one area where Congress could have addressed a real problem, one that the states cannot effectively regulate.

 

[theeedude]

Republicans feel this urge to protect us from ourselves.

 

[Pens1566]

Originally posted by: senseamp
Republicans feel this urge to protect us from ourselves.

Funny how we don't hurt ourselves nearly as much as they end up hurting us ......

 

[Harvey]

Originally posted by: senseamp
Republicans feel this urge to protect us from ourselves.

The large majority of online gaming sites are offshore and beyond any oversight by U.S. authorities. Did you ever stop to think that some of them could be criminal operations or money sources for terrorists?

Even if that isn't the case for every gambling site, I think they're predatory by nature and this bill restricting their operations is a good idea. :thumbsup:

 

[Todd33]

Follow the money. The Indian tribes pay off the repugs and they lobby against off shore gambling. End of story. It's another GOP buy off.