Goofy Devil's Advocate argument for UIGEA

[greyhawke54]

Thank you, Awesome response.

[andywend]

The politicians who came up with the UIGEA can care less about problem gamblers. The UIGEA was passed because the U.S. government is unable to collect taxes from offshore outlets.

Our congressmen and senators DON'T care about people. They care about MONEY.

When the UIGEA was being honestly debated in the house of representatives back in July (unlike the senate) the REAL REASON was being discussed in the privacy of the house chamber. The problem was that online gambling does NOT contribute to the GDP of the United States.

This B.S. about children and problem gamblers was only added to sell the UIGEA to the American people.

Can any reasonable person honestly say that playing poker online is MORE DAMAGING than smoking 3 packs of cigarettes a day? Then why are cigarettes legal and playing poker online illegal?

The answer is two fold. The tobacco companies have their lobbies and funnel MILLIONS UPON MILLIONS into the pockets of politicians. The poker industry simply doesn't have the same government access.

The second reason is that the government collects taxes on the sale of cigarettes and does not with online poker.

At some point in the future, there will be U.S. based online poker rooms and that will prove that the UIGEA was about money as opposed to the objections of online gambling.

[questions]

Good post, Andy.

[Piece of Cake]

There was a chance I might have lost money when I spent $100 bucks on a round of golf this Saturday. That chance was 100%.

So the fact that I might walk away from a source of entertainment with some or more of the fee I paid for that entertainment makes it an illegal activity?