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#61
10-02-2006, 01:04 PM
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Re: why was this law passed?
Do you guys seriously believe this has anything to do with morals or whats best for american society? Politics is about money and power (same thing). Hello Harrahs online poker?
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#62
10-02-2006, 01:05 PM
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Re: why was this law passed?
As I see it, this was solely and simply a means for Bill Frist and a couple of others to have political leverage for the upcoming elections and Frist's presumed presidential run, (read beating chest yelling "Looky what I did"!) for the benefit of the bible thumpers in Tennessee and other parts of the bible belt.
Doc
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#63
10-02-2006, 01:10 PM
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Re: why was this law passed?
Yes, the government is right about the wasted brainpower: I was going to discover a cure for cancer today but decided to play in a $5 tournament instead!
Seriously, I agree with you that internet poker probably is -EV for society, but then again so are cheeseburgers. Neither Congress nor Mr. Frist are so deeply concerned with our well-being - they're a LOT more concerned about getting re-elected. So we're the victims.
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#64
10-02-2006, 01:13 PM
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Re: why was this law passed?
Its certainly -EV...what leisure activity isnt?
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#65
10-02-2006, 01:14 PM
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Re: why was this law passed?
The NFL didn't care about poker obviously, but they are very anti sports-betting.
Politicians get a ton of money from Indian Casinos, race tracks, and other B&M gambling operations. Dunno if that played any role in this. Clearly it was mainly grandstanding by Frist to show his "strong morals" or whatever.
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#66
10-02-2006, 01:44 PM
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Re: why was this law passed?
[ QUOTE ]
Frist did this for popularity? Thats the craziest thing Ive ever heard! LOL - this guy is goning to be running for Prez? Freakin' idiot has shot himself in the foot with this one I think. I'd never heard of him before, but know I know that anybody voting for this man is an idiot. [/ QUOTE ] You know, I used to be proud to be a republican. Now I don't even mention it. GWB is a [censored] embarassment, and has done more to harm the US world reputation, US economy, and US freedoms than any man anywhere, ever. We're a [censored] laughing stock to the world, and we've made enemies everywhere. And, he's watching as corporations send US jobs overseas by the thousands. Awesome. Now another idiot republican bans internet gambling. Why? So I have to drive an hour to go to B&M indian casino? You still get no taxes from that. Idiots. Its time to get the republicans out of office. Bill Clinton may have [censored] around in office, but when he was in charge we didn't do half as much stupid [censored] as the republicans have done in the past 6 years.
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#67
10-02-2006, 02:01 PM
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Re: why was this law passed?
THat said, I understand the reasoning behind the ban. Poker does not contribute positively to society. While it may be a game of skill, it is still a dangerous way that could potentially lose a great deal of money immediately. Comparing it to something like horseracing isn't fair, as horse races are not something you could blow your fortune on every day with the click of a mouse... for one thing, horse races aren't held every day.
It's also unfair to compare gambling to investing in the stock market. Investing in the stock market helps our economy by providing capital for companies that provide us goods and services. Any similar connection with poker would be tenuous at best. Even skill-less forms of gambling such as the lottery benefit local school systems. Again, I don't think it's any of the government's business how we spend out money, but pretending that poker is a positive aspect of society is a stretch. Professional poker players aren't really contributing much of anything to society. I have to disagree with you on most of your substantive points. 1) There is no limit to how much you can bet at the race track. There are always races taking place somewhere that you can wager on electronically, so the situation is pretty much analogous to online poker. 2) I'll partially agree about the stock market, but it is more difficult to justify the utility of speculation, as opposed to long-term investment. Financial speculators have inflicted great damage on various (mostly) healthy economies around the world at various times. Online poker has never done anything like that. 3) The lottery is a voluntary tax. It's hard to see any entertainment value gained by the participant (as opposed to poker), and poker can be said to foster analytical and intuitive skills and encourages the development of positive character traits, like discipline. Therefore it has a lot of educational potential, which lottery playing does not. If online poker were taxed and regulated, it could also provide funding to social programs within US juridictions. 4) The poker industry (taken as a whole) is basically a leisure industry, just as spectator sports, amusement parks and cinemas are. It provides jobs to many people and entertainment and intellectual stimulus to its players. If you are going to say that poker does nothing productive for society, then you'll have to make the same statement about the entire leisure sector of the ecomonmy. And if that's the way you want to go, then it's Taliban, here we come.
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#68
10-02-2006, 02:15 PM
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Re: why was this law passed?
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