Amazed at the LACK of news coverage on this legislation

[kidpokeher]

Just looked at CNN, Fox, NY Times, and USA Today. Absolutely no mention of either the legislation or the effect it had on the gaming sector. I guess stock prices dropping 50-60% in a day doesn't warrant coverage unless they're US companies.

Only site I've seen with anything resembling adequate coverage is MSNBC, but you have to go to the business page to find it.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15102480/

[Dynasty]

Now you have a better idea for how unimportant online gambling is to most people. The public doesn't care about this issue.

[Dementia]

[ QUOTE ]
Now you have a better idea for how unimportant online gambling is to most people. The public doesn't care about this issue.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah seriously. And the people who are often outspoken about these kinds of issues already have enough talking points to squabble over for the next ten+ years.

[kidpokeher]

[ QUOTE ]
Now you have a better idea for how unimportant online gambling is to most people. The public doesn't care about this issue.

[/ QUOTE ]

Maybe. What I'm getting at is the public likely doesn't even know about this issue. It just seems really strange that an event large enough to cut the market cap of multi billion dollar companies in half doesn't warrant a mention.

Even the Harrah's buyout offer got a mention and that's just an offer at this point, not a done deal.

[five4suited]

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Now you have a better idea for how unimportant online gambling is to most people. The public doesn't know anything about this issue, like so many other issues related to the governance of this country.

[/ QUOTE ]

The "news" provided by the mainstream American media is merely the promotion of an ideology, often explicitly. This is also called indoctrination.

[Nottom]

[ QUOTE ]
Now you have a better idea for how unimportant online gambling is to most people. The public doesn't care about this issue.

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I don't think this is really true. The thing that seems odd to me is that there seemed to be a lot more coverage when the house "gambling ban" passed than this one, even though this is the one that actually does something.

Also, I'm disappointed that in most of the news coverage I've seen they are making it seem like Congress just passed some "internet gambling ban" and are either not mentioning or just skirting past the fact that it was just kind of stuck onto the port security bill. I think this sort of tactic would make it interesting to the general public, even if they don't care about internet gambling.

[rwesty]

http://www.startribune.com/535/story/717083.html

[Tom Bayes]

A couple of comments:

1. I'm not surprised at the lack of media response outside our little world. My non-poker friends don't know this happened. They don't care. I tend to lean left in my politics, but I noticed that this isn't even a blip on the liberal blogosphere. No one is talking about it at The Daily Kos.

As far as this article:

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http://www.startribune.com/535/story/717083.html

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Rep. Jim Leach, R-Iowa, has led the gambling crackdown in the House of Representatives. Greg Wierzynski, a spokesman for Leach, said Monday that "<font color="red">gambling</font> from your bedroom or living room or dormitory <font color="red">is not a socially useful activity.</font>"

I'm glad Mr. Wierzynski set me straight. I'm ashamed of being so socially useless over the past few years. Can the 2+2 readers please help provide me with a list of socially useful activities?

[Yuv]

Funny that it gets little media coverage in the US, but this story was on section A of all the major daily newspapers in Israel. This mostly due to 888 being an Israeli company, along with a lot of the onling gaming industry companies..

[MicroBob]

Many would argue that watching TV or surfing the net are not socially useful activities.
That certainly shouldn't be enough to make it illegal.

I would also argue that being a spokesperson for a Republican congressman is perhaps higher on the 'not a socially useful activity' scale.