Online Gambling Shutdown in U.S

Brandon

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Jul 3, 2006
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President Bush signed a new law regarding our ports. Apparently, politicans like to sneak pointless and misleading mandates into them that have nothing to do with the bill itself.

The Safe Harbor Act has a provision basically banning online gambling (more specificly the transfer of funds from american banks to gambling web sites). Oddly enough, the people that wrote the bill excluded all state lotteries, horseracing and brick and mortar casinos. Funny how government hates things it can't tax!

What are your thoughts on online gambling and the bill banning it?
 
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Interesting question. I have no problems with gambling, offline or online. There is a viable argument to be made that taking advantage of someone who cant make good descisions for themselsves (gambling addicts) is wrong. Whats not viable is the arguement that some people should be allowed to run gabling operations and some shouldnt. In my oppinion either its legit to allow someone to gamble, or its not. Any variant of that is just deciding who should be allowed to screw the dumb guy and who should be prohibited. How can that come down to anything but campaign donations?
 
This whole bill seems like an act of laziness more than anything else. It's as if the government can't be bothered with setting up some regulations for online gambling, which they should. Americans are going to gamble online regardless ...there are ways around the payment methods ...and it would be nice to see them somewhat protected.
 
I think part of the reason is that the internets moves and grows and changes much faster than the government can actually keep up with nowadays.
 
Dong has a point about the government's response time. Perhaps, this is an issue which will prove important very soon. If our current way of passing legislation is so antiquated that it can't keep up with the needs of the people, then something has to change. You can't just say, as in the case of gambling, 'we aren't dealing with it'.
 
I don't have a problem with online gambling. What I do have a problem with is ESPN devoting such a huge chunk of time to TELEVISING poker. How the hell is that entertaining in the least to watch? You know what hands the people have! It's like being given the chance to be omniscient, but only within the confines of a group of shady weirdos who constantly wear sunglasses.
 
Couldn't disagree less.

Is there a difference between disagree less and agree more? :p

I don't have a problem with online gambling. What I do have a problem with is ESPN devoting such a huge chunk of time to TELEVISING poker. How the hell is that entertaining in the least to watch? You know what hands the people have! It's like being given the chance to be omniscient, but only within the confines of a group of shady weirdos who constantly wear sunglasses.

Oh, some people find it really entertaining ;)

Okay, okay, I admit it...I find televised poker entertaining! This is largely because I like playing poker. But no, I don't gamble. I do like cleaning people out in Texas Holdem though...anyway, think of televised poker as a form of dramatic irony...but only unscripted! You get the appreciate the depth of the players in this way.
 
(temporarily off-topic)

Haha yeah :wtf: is with that character requirement thing? It ruins my attempts at tongue-in-cheek post-modern, post-structuralist analysis! :p
 
Personally i think that online gambline is getting way out of hand and some people have ruined their family and mariage by stealing to fund their habits i think there should be a restriction with online gambling pretty much like the premium rate number where you can only stay on the phone a certain amount of time to spend whatever amount of money,and so the same should be for gambling online but then again theres so many of them i think it would be hard to follow
 
My guess is this has more to do with channeling the profits the way certain interests want them than with protecting the poor addicted gamblers. And while I disapprove of the government restricting people's access to leasure activities for the gain of special interests, I really dislike any kind of restrictions imposed for the sake of morals. People need to be allowed to make foolish choices and to do things that aren't good for them.
 
Destiny, why do you feel the need to treat adults like babies? The more we baby the population the more childish they will become. While you are preventing people from losing money, you are also stripping them from learning about their mistakes.

How will humanity grow and learn, if we cannot make our own mistakes?
 
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Brandon, if I may-it's called addiction. My father is one of the best examples on the planet. He is the worst kind of addict-the one who no matter how screwed up his addiction can get, and no matter how many times he promises me and my sister he will get help, he instead tries to mask his addiction. At one point in his life, he was fairly successful, working as a regional manager for an import/export company, which eventually went bankrupt. Soon after, he took his small fortune, moved to Florida, and engaged in dangerous behaviors, using drugs, and having unprotected sex. I was then born, and he realized he needed to stop taking hard drugs. [according to my mom, he was a cokehead, and occasionally used speedballs, etc.] He then resorted to alcoholism. My mother said that this was the darkest time in her life. He was in his mid thirties, jobless, and so unresponsible, that she sent me to a daycare run by a neighbor, because she couldn't trust my drunk father at home. She was working full-time, with two children, and spent her entire weekend doing food shopping, cleaning, etc. Meanwhile, my father would go to the bar, get drunk, etc. Then it got to the point where they fought, and eventually escalated to him pushing her, and breaking her wrist. A week later, we left Florida, with $50, a $30,000 medical bill, and a small '89 Saab filled with whatever we could pack it with, and took the train to New Jersey where my Grandparents lived. [Mind you, since my mom's wrist was broken, I had to help her pack and was only 5 at the time]

She now is quite successful. In a month or two, we are planning on buying a three bedroom townhouse, and all her debt is paid off. My father has recently moved up here too, and visits often, but stilll insists on drinking. My sister went over to his apartmend just last saturday, and said she found a stash of over 15 beer cans. On top of his alcoholism, he has COPD, a Fatty Liver, Adult-onset Type 2 Diabetes, Emphysema, Diabetic Neuropathy, has had three heart attacks, and actually was pronounced dead twice a few years back. Yet, no matter how many times you beg him to stop or reminded him of what he did in the past, he just ignores you. Don't get me wrong, when he's sober, he's extremely funny, and laid back. He actually did go to treatmend a few times, when me and my sister threatened to sever communication with him, but he relapsed after a month.

Moral of the story; You have to help people help themselves, and while our 'success' with my father was brief, sometimes people just resist treatment, and have real problems.
 
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