Speaking up against hypocrisy
I recently came across a great article by Jacob Sollum about Rep. Goodlatte’s misguided and authoritarian bill to ban internet gambling. That bill being discussed in the article passed the House of Representatives recently, but has not come up in the Senate as yet. Sollum points out the many ways in which Goodlatte’s arguments for the bill are incoherent and hypocritical. This of course seems to be a recurring theme for the anti-gaming legislation as a whole. An example of Goodlatte’s hypocrisy is when he complains about internet gaming companies are set up as offshore companies and are unregulated. Meanwhile, the legislation doesn’t seek to correct this issue, in fact, it promotes this very situation.
Goodlatte says, “These offshore, fly-by-night Internet gambling operators are unlicensed, untaxed and unregulated and are sucking billions of dollars out of the United States.” What he forgets to mention is that the reason these companies are offshore in the first place is because under the Wire Act of 1961, owners of the gaming sites have been pushed offshore because that act threatens to prosecute them for using a wire communication facility for betting on sports.
The gambling sites we know and love are not backdoor mom and pop operations. Most of the sites are licensed and taxed abroad by foreign companies that don’thave the same prejudices about people using the internet to do things like play poker. If the hypocricital Goodlatte really wants licensing and taxation to occur in this country, sponsoring legislation which effectively bans a $12 billion per year industry does not accomplish this goal. But if Goodlatte wants the licensing, taxing, and regulating to occur in the U.S., banning the whole $12-billion-a-year industry, which draws about half its customers from this country, is a poor way to do business.
It is a fact that just like we as customers would love to have our gaming sites legal, the gaming companies themselves would love to have online gambling legal and regulated in the US. Why wouldn’t they. It would completely simplify the way in which they conduct their business. If it was legal and regulated, American casino companies would jump on the bandwagon overnight and start their on online operations. Think about it, do you think any casino owner in their right mind wouldn’t love to be able to reach out to a broader audience and client base? It is much better than what is happening with the ban which assures that the money placed by an American on a wager funnels into the economy of another country.
Goodlatte’s hypocrisy doesn’t end there. His bill doesn’t seek to be the end all for all forms of gambling. There is no moralistic pedestal for him to stand on as his bill makes exceptions for lucrative state lotteries and the horse racing industry which I’ve gone to great lengths to discuss in this space before. Goodlatte also doesn’t oppose riverboat gambling nor Indian reservations, nor Las Vegas and Atlantic City. Apparently, he thinks its ok to engage in “morally corrupt gambling in public but not in the privacy of your own home
Sollum ties it all together perfectly when he said:
The online gambling ban, which dictates what adults may do with their own money on their own computers in their own homes, is part of what Republicans proudly call their “American Values Agenda.” Evidently those values do not include privacy, freedom of choice, individual responsibility, or free markets.
Is there a more empty word than “values” these days? I cringe every time I hear it - values voter, values agenda, family values. All of these are merely a veneer draped over the top of the desire to control others.
This, my friends, is at the root of the debate. The government wants to control us. They want us to be puppets, conforming to whatever behaviors they see as acceptable for us. If you’ll excuse me, it’s time for me to play in my online poker tournament
We want to hear from you. How do you feel about this and how have these acts by Congress impacted your lives? Has it altered the way you operate or have you become even more determined to live your life as you see fit? Let’s get the dialogue going as alone we are weak but united, we are stronger.