The Looming Battle Over Online Gambling

Kadin2048 writes "According to an recent Ars Technica article, the US is headed on a 'collision course' with the WTO over off-shore Internet gambling, if a bill currently in the House of Representatives passes. The 'Internet Gambling Prohibition Act,' (PDF) which updates the 'Wire Act' to prohibit Internet gambling regardless of whether the servers are located in the US or outside of it, is in direct contravention of a WTO ruling. Proponents of the bill claim that it was narrowly defeated in previous incarnations due to the influence of disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff. However it seems as though some of Abramoff's biggest clients -- brick and mortar casinos -- are really the big winners from passage of this bill, since it does not prohibit gambling in person, only online."

Comments

Re:Gimme a break!

[mrchaotica]

Yeah, that too. In fact, if you look at it a certain way it is one of those "laws that protect people against themselves" because it removes responsibility for their actions. In other words, people can knowingly be stupid and/or self-destructive and rely on the "safety net" of Welfare to save them. If we removed the safety net, people would have to learn to take care of themselves.