This is part 2 of a multipart series of articles regarding proposed anti-gambling legislation. In this information, I begin discussion of the quoted reasons with this legislation, and the specific facts that exist in the true world.
The legislators are trying to protect us from something, or are they? The whole lot seems only a little confusing to state the least.
As stated in the previous article, the House, and the Senate, are yet again considering the matter of “Online Gambling” ;.Bills have now been submitted by Congressmen Goodlatte and Leach, and also by Senator Kyl.
The bill being put forward by Rep. Goodlatte, The Internet Gambling Prohibition Act, gets the stated intention of updating the Wire Act to outlaw all forms of online gambling, to produce it illegal for a gambling business to simply accept credit and electronic transfers, and to force ISPs and Common Carriers to block usage of gambling related sites at the request of law enforcement.안전놀이터
Just like does Rep. Goodlatte, Sen. Kyl, in his bill, Prohibition on Funding of Unlawful Internet Gambling, makes it illegal for gambling businesses to simply accept credit cards, electronic transfers, checks and other styles of payment with the objective on placing illegal bets, but his bill doesn’t address the ones that place bets.
The bill submitted by Rep. Leach, The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, is actually a copy of the bill submitted by Sen. Kyl. It centers on preventing gambling businesses from accepting credit cards, electronic transfers, checks, and other payments, and like the Kyl bill makes no changes from what is currently legal, or illegal.
So, regardless of whether online gambling is currently legal or not, just what’s it that the politicians are trying to protect us from? How come it so important to produce online gambling illegal?
One answer is contained in this quote from Rep. Goodlatte “can keep children from borrowing the family charge card, logging to the family computer, and losing tens of thousands of dollars all before their parents get home from work” ;.
I do believe a reasonable translation of that quote will be “American parents are incompetent at raising their very own children so Congress should step in and take action for them’ ;.Because of course we’re all conscious that the politicians have a much better concept of what’s best for us and our children than we do.
And in another quote “In a nutshell, the Internet is a challenge to the sovereignty of civilized communities, States, and nations to determine what’s appropriate and decent behavior” ;.
A fair translation with this quote would seem to go something such as “Individual Americans aren’t effective at deciding for themselves what behavior is suitable and decent in their very own homes. Fortunately Congress will be here to safeguard them from themselves and legislate morality for them” ;.
Not just is Congress supposedly in charge of raising the kids of America, but to be able to do so, and to stop us from unknowingly doing something indecent, they will legislate what we can do with our personal money, on our personal time, in our personal homes. Does this sound like the very style of a free of charge society, or the beginnings of a misguided totalitarian state?
Let’s delve only a little deeper into these protections and see exactly how interested the politicians really have been in making sure that our students are safe from the evils of gambling.
Remember, all of these following forms of gambling are either currently legal, or will be made specifically legal in the bill being put forward by Rep. Goodlatte.
First, we have casinos, and race tracks. These little money makers are proliferating all around the country and generate a lot of tax revenue for federal and state governments in addition to profits for their operators. Individuals behind the anti-online gambling bills might have you imagine that casinos are not an issue as it pertains to underage individuals, since casino staff could see the individuals in person and assess their age.
Quite to the contrary however, we have this quote from The Illinois Institute for Addiction Recovery “Casino kids have now been left on their own at the outer rim of casinos while their parents gamble, according for some casino security officers. In a few extreme cases, students are left in the family car in the casino parking lot for hours at any given time while their parents gamble inside. Less obviously, children might also spend a long time weekly with babysitters while their parents gamble in casinos, bingo halls or card rooms.”
While I certainly wouldn’t attempt to claim that online gambling will work for the American family, clearly, to the extent that children can relax and play in their very own homes, and sleep in their very own beds, online gambling presents less of an issue than the current state supported alternative.
Another kind of online gambling that the proposed legislation would exempt from illegal status could be the sale of lottery tickets by the states over the internet. It is difficult to observe these legislators show deep concern for the kids of America based on the following quote from Overcoming Life Digest (July/August, 1998 Issue) “Studies reveal that lotteries are the favourite legal gambling game for teenagers. Statistically, among seven who play will end up addicted.” And from the Council on Compulsive Gambling of New Jersey (6 June 2003), “Many regard lotteries as a relatively benign kind of gambling. However, 31 percent of callers to the 1-800-GAMBLER national hotline (operated by the Council on Compulsive Gambling of New Jersey) indicated difficulties with lottery gambling.”
In another example of government raking in cash without regard for the kids of America, we have Video Lottery Machines. Video Lottery Machines, or VLTs are simply state sponsored electronic video poker machines. Based on David Plotz in Slate.com on Friday December 17th, 1999 “They’re the most addictive of any gambling instrument we have today. It is really a cinch for kids to play video lottery machines, because they are often present in businesses that kids frequent.” These units are being licensed for use in food markets, convenience stores, bars and markets around the united states, where the children of America have easy access.
Clearly, the legislation proposed doesn’t “keep children from borrowing the family charge card, logging to the family computer, and losing tens of thousands of dollars all before their parents get home from work”, They will be able to get lottery tickets, bet on horse races, and head down to the area convenience store to play the VLTs.