Republicans Nuke Online Gambling This Weekend

[TheBlackCat]

Bill Frist tacked anti-gambling legislation on to the back of the Port security bill, sneaking it through the Senate this weekend.

MANY OF YOU VOTED FOR THESE GUYS!!! They have hurt your entertainment and fun in the most damaging, prohibitionist, unconstitutional way possible. Please remember this come November! If they don't represent YOU, they don't represent YOU.

This is a new low in America. So much for "free trade", eh? This is all about protectionism of the American casinos, who paid big $$$ for this bill.

[TxsAg99]

How will this change the online folks? Does anyone know? I realize that you can't do an ETF or credit card transaction to a gaming site, but what about sites like Instadebit and Neteller?

Also, what's to stop you from just sending/recieving funds via mail or fedex?

[TheBlackCat]

I don't know the details of this bill. Its supposed to be a watered down version of what passed the House with overwhelming Republican support in July. It is supposed to cut off bank deposits and probably is an attack on neteller, etc.

They are trying to make it more difficult. As everyone here knows, prohibition doesn't work and they won't stop it. I'm confident many people will go to more expense and trouble just to spite this.

At worst, you can always go to your local casino, where strangely gambling is legal although its not in your own house. Of course, that's exactly what they want you to do, and why the casinos paid off the republicans to make this bill happen.

[TheBlackCat]

Just remember, when you lose a bet overseas...its not a lost wager, its a political contribution.

[brink]

I don't think I would worry much yet. There is still almost a year before it would actually go into affect. In the meantime, we will all know a little more as time goes on.

I don't pay much attention to all the hype you read around the internet. So many people trying to scare everyone.

Here's an article I found that seems pretty straight forward.


Nowhere in the language of a bill passed late Friday night to curb internet gambling is there any mention of gamblers being prosecuted for placing bets or playing poker online. In fact, the new bill does not apply to gamblers at all other than to make it a little more difficult to fund online betting and poker accounts.

Online gambling transactions will be the focus of a Thursday meeting in London among third party payment processors.

"The passage of this legislation has had me working non-stop to get geared up for this battle," said one attorney who represents a major payment processor catering to the online gambling community. "Hopefully the collective legal minds at the meeting in London, as well as counsel for other interested parties, can launch a attack and/or approach to adaptation to the regulations."

One Republican politician we spoke to Saturday had this to say:

"The bill affects Visa/Mastercard transactions and it is getting impossible to use these cards anyway (for online gambling transactions.
"The bill is very 'watered down' in terms of language which gives ISPs plenty of wiggle room if they did not know they were enabling consumers to reach gaming sites. It is not a big deal."

The banking sector has already stated it will be close to impossible to monitor electronic checks, fast becoming the payment option of choice for today's web surfers.

It's not just online gambling government is trying to regulate over the world wide web.....now they are going after internet dating services. Yikes.

Several states are cracking down on the online dating industry, proposing new laws that would, among other things, mandate criminal background checks on all those looking for love on the Internet.

To date, New York is the only state that has a law regulating online dating sites, but six other states have introduced similar legislation mainly in the last year. They are California, Florida, Michigan, Ohio, Virginia and Texas.

Lawmakers seeking to regulate the online dating scene claim that the industry isn't doing enough to police itself, and consequently, is putting vulnerable people at risk of meeting up with predators.

Proposed legislation has varied from state to state, with some states wanting to make criminal background checks mandatory, and others wanting online companies to alert surfers upfront that background checks on potential dates have not been done.

Another bill sneaked its way through Congress recently that would hold online networking site MySpace.com liable for any harm that comes as a result of unmonitored predators utilizing the popular website. Ouch!

[TheBlackCat]

Wow didn't see that MySpace thing. *WOW* is that messed up!!!! Do they specifically mention MySpace, or describe it in general terms???

Yes, individuals are not specifically condemned but that's not too unusual. Most of the drug laws, I believe, aim at dealers and distributers. But the point is not lost: if you place $20 on the Jets this weekend, you are a *((&*(& criminal and a traitor to the American people! You are "funding terrorism" you asshole!!

Of course, that pretty much makes me a hero to the American people, since I operate as a vigilante who helps Americans win $$$ overseas, crippling the terrorists. Any chance I get a congressional medal of honor if my Top 100 breaks 60% this year?

[jpehl]

Brink I think that there are people out there who are panicing and thinking the world is over. Then again i do think there are people out there who are not going to accept no as an answer. I do agree that we should sit back and let all the details come out before we act. But how long do we sit before its to late?
Just a thought.
jpehl

[TheBlackCat]

No, we shouldn't sit back. We should let them know we aren't going to tolerate this legislative attack on us and VOTE THEM OUT.

Didn't they really create this "problem" in the first place? If they hadn't made online gambling illegal in the US originally, no one would have been sending $$$ to Antigua. How can prohibition be a solution to a problem that prohibition created?

[jpehl]

I really think that we should start a sticky thread about this issue.
jpehl

[Anonymous]

No, we shouldn't sit back. We should let them know we aren't going to tolerate this legislative attack on us and VOTE THEM OUT.

Didn't they really create this "problem" in the first place? If they hadn't made online gambling illegal in the US originally, no one would have been sending $$$ to Antigua. How can prohibition be a solution to a problem that prohibition created?

#1 All legislators hide legislation on typically loosely related bills to slide it through Congress. Thats just the way it works.

#2 l am not going to vote for a political party for the sole purpose of keeping internet gambling available. l realize its a huge issue on freedom, but there are much more pressing matters, and l just can't vote Democrat. (lm actually Libertarian)

#3 There will always be a loophole, just leave it to the CEOs, they will find a way to keep us betting.

#4 lf they lnternet Gaming lndustry was actually frightened by this legislation, they would have sent lobbyist out in force to squelch it, maybe they let it slide b/c they know how much it doesn't actually do anything, but looks really good for Republican representatives who have Bible Thumping Conservative demographics to keep happy.

[TheBlackCat]

You mean like the same CEOs that have been rotting in US jails these past couple months?

I can definitely make this an issue worth voting against. For the very reason you cited, there are FAR FAR bigger things for them to be legislating, so why are they focusing on this crap??? It just shows they are on the job.

And there are very very very very few things they do that actually impact me on a personal day-to-day basis. I consider this one of them. The other 99% is crap that -- in the long run -- won't really affect my life one way or the other.

[Anonymous]

You mean like the same CEOs that have been rotting in US jails these past couple months?

Are you a theatre major? No disrespect, but these guys know they will be arrested if they come back to America, THEY KNOW lT WlLL HAPPEN. They choose to join the lucrative online gambling arena, and make the money, and are well aware of the consequences. That being said, l do think its dumb to legislate against internet gambling while still allowing Reno, Las Vegas, Atlantic City, and lndian Reservations to allow it.

But there is really nothing we can do about it. l live in South Carolina, and about 8 years ago Video Poker was a huge issue during election time. One candidate PRO and one ANTl. Video Poker establishment owners were out in full force, registering people, campaigning for the PRO governor... that being said, HE WON and they all breathed a sigh of relief thinking they were safe... one month later he signed a bill outlawing Video Poker in the state of SC. So don't think that Dem's would take the complete opposite stance on the issue.

l wonder if it would be legal to set up an internet gambling company in Vegas that would allow anyone in the world the place a bet.

[TheBlackCat]

To the extent it is important enough for these bastards to pass these laws, that is the extent I'm willing to go to condemn them. You can say "it doesn't matter", but obviously -- it does, because they forced this issue through ahead of 1,000s of other issues. This group of people has nothing better to do than repeatedly and constantly attacking our constitutional rights and trying to conform america to their vision. Stop trying to criminilize Americans who are doing nothing wrong.

As for the CEOs, these are high-profile CEOs of 100% legitimate publicly traded companies. And you act like they captured mafia heads and put them behind bars? Yeah, England is a common harborer of terrorists, lets bomb them next!

[TheBlackCat]

The answer to your question , of course, is "no". Vegas can not offer online gambling by US law, although they have repeatedly campaigned for the right to do so. That's what CREATED the problem in the first place. All they have to do to curtail overseas gambling is legalize it domestically, but THEY won't do that.

Look, Vegas has become one of the top tourist destinations in the country and is ever-expanding. Even today, multi-billion dollar deals on gambling are occuring in this country. The public has spoken: we accept it as a society. But our leaders don't adhere to the people, and they do whatever the hell it is they see fit to do.

[Anonymous]

Money talks, and bullshit walks.... thank your lobbyists for passing unpopular legislation. Thank lnterest groups for putting religious and cultural pressures on our government. But thats how it works. lf lnternet Gambling sites came together to for a lobbying group, l think they could be pretty damn formidable opponent, but would they people able to pad the same pockets that the mob, and vegas pad day in and day out... doubtful.

Vegas is just protecting its interest... l mean why would l go there, when l can lay on my couch, drink beer and play craps or hold'em in my boxers. Yea ambience, and the experience, but they look to lose a slew a money on this issue.