The British government plans next week to seek international support for legalized, regulated online gambling, emphasizing a trans-Atlantic difference on the issue after the Bush administration’s recent move to outlaw transactions with Internet gambling services.
During a conference scheduled for Tuesday at the Royal Ascot racecourse, the British government plans to seek adoption of a broad code of principles on Internet gambling, according to a person briefed on a communiqué prepared by the British delegation. Officials from more than 30 countries are expected to attend.
The U.S. Justice Department has declined to send a representative.
“We believe that tough regulation is a better approach than a free-for-all or prohibition,” Anthony Wright, a spokesman for Tessa Jowell, the secretary for culture, media and sport, said Friday. “We will be looking to secure agreement to the principles for international standards of regulation.”
Wright’s comments echo remarks attributed to Jowell that were reported in The Financial Times on Friday. She, too, alluded to the U.S. prohibition of alcohol from 1920 to 1933, saying the move to ban online gambling could lead to the creation of “modern-day speakeasies,” driving Internet gambling underground and into the control of criminals.
Gambling — if you wish to — is so normal a part of life in the UK that even Rupert Murdoch’s satellite TV service includes a red button you press on your remote to place a bet.
Given the choice between tough, sensible regulation — and criminalizing something that brings in the hypocrite and puritan vote — what do you think American politicians will choose?
Here is what Jowell said herself:
The US crackdown on online gambling is a “new prohibition”, which is likely to fuel a rise in fraud and exploitation, the UK culture secretary has said.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6090358.stm
The whole online gambling situation in America seems very strange to me, in particular in a country that has Las Vagas.
I don’t gamble on the Internet and never have, even when there were no restrictions, because I don’t know who’s really running the site, and have no idea whether my winnings (if any) will actually be returned to me. I do gamble at casinos now and then.
That said, the US casino industry (private and tribal), along with their strange bedfellows the US religious right (who are against gaming anywhere of course) and the individual states (who ban online gaming because they’re not getting tax revenues), are the main reasons that online gambling is not legal in the US.
It’s easier to make money from illegal activities than legal. No rules and regulations to keep to
2 …are the main reasons that online gambling is not legal in the US.
Agreed.
Especially in light of how some Tribes thought Abramoff was buying them influence…
I love the wiki entry:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Abramoff
His prison sentence was the minimum permitted under a plea bargain, in part because of his purported cooperation in the federal investigation and also because over 100 influential political allies–some very recognizable names in American public policy–wrote the sentencing judge on Abramoff’s behalf, urging leniency.
#2 & 4. Agreed. The moralizing bluenoses would not have gotten their online gambling ban through without the support of the brick-and-mortar casino industry. strange bedfellows does not even begin to describe it.
that and governments want gambling to take place in locations where they can collect their cut on-site, both from the gambling operation and from the gambler
Maybe this model can be transferred over. What if governments that were too cowardly to either raise taxes or cut spending (like those dependant upon gambling cash) became dependant upon pornography sales as a source of revenue? Would the crusade against online child porn get a boost?
Who wrote those ladies’ sign caption – George Bush? “Lips that touch wine, shall not touch mine.”
RBG
2 …and the individual states (who ban online gaming because they’re not getting tax revenues)
5 (like those dependant upon gambling cash)
Silly me…
After living in Connecticut – with Foxwoods and the Mohegan Sun mega-casinos – and now living in Oregon – with Powerball, the state lottery system, and tribal casinos…
I had almost forgotten about the states not just unable to tax online gambling – but also opposing direct competition to their own lottery systems.
Here in Oregon they have the problem of wanting to increase Lottery revenue – while trying to downplay the number of people harmed by compulsive/addictive gambling…
The state runs ads to remind us how popular programs get funding from the Lottery – so that we are less likely to oppose the Lottery on principle…
http://www.oregonlottery.org/welcome.php
Top-left of the page: click on “it does good things” to get the pop-ups about all the wonderful things that are funded by the millions of dollars people are losing every year.
The “Win-Win” tab links to a pdf that shows annual sales in 2004 were just under 900-Million dollars… 🙁
But – of course – 1% of Lottery profits go toward “Problem Gambling Treatment”.
I see gambling as a voluntary tax. Or a tax on the stupid. So from a selfish POV, I don’t mind gambling as long as much of the money goes into the tax base. (In rare moments, I’ll play cards for the company of interesting characters & the environment but with the complete understanding I pay for this by my likelihood of losing.)
Look around you next time you go to Vegas. It was all financed by losers. Vegas is, statistically-speaking, a city of losers. When you gamble, the probability is that you are going to lose. And this is a virtual certainty in the long run. There is no escaping that fact.
I believe that the types of people who gamble with the intent of winning are those who, at their core, are very superstitous in that they believe they are somehow “special” such that the rules of probability don’t apply to themselves. That’s the kind of people the gaming industry adores. I believe gamblers tend to be religious people because of their ease in disregarding science and probability, or ignorance of such matters. Instead of understanding, they substitute their belief in some level of supernatural intervention. Bet you a poll would bear me out. That is why the church-goers would certainly be bedfellows of the gaming industry.
But from my diatribe above – it’s clear that gambling is pretty much all about unscrupulous exploitation.
RBG
#8. I actually see gambling as a form of entertainment. For fun poker games are not as fun as for cash poker games and participating in the office March Madness pool is fun, too. The lottery, OTOH, strikes me as a tax on people who cant do math, perhaps because I cant see any fun in it and it is run by the State.
That being said, anyone who walks into a lushly appointed casino where they hand out free drinks and $1 shrimp cocktails and does not realize that The House Always Wins is stupid indeed.
Were it up to me, I would decriminalize gambling entirely, with draconian penalties for crooked games. the semi-legalization that we have now is just an invitation for Abramoff-style corruption.
#8 & 9, Well put. I agree totally.
The best part about a once a month, friendly poker game is it is fair. You know the people and there isn’t any cheating. Pools are the same. Lotteries are half voluntary tax and half entertainment; where else can you fantasize about spending your millions for $5 or so.
While regulated casinos may all be above board, as RBG pointed out, they don’t allow the winner to leave. And on-line gambling can not be verified as legit. We have no idea what the software code is and if anyone has ever verified it for fairness. You have no idea what the odds are. You have no idea if the same programmers writing this software also wrote Diebold’s electronic voting machine software too.