Online gambling "could" be used to launder money, Let's review this...

[Moneyline]

I think the best way to approach the money laundering argument is to not only emphasize that there hasn't been a single reported case of this actually happening, but also emphasize that this is a case of politicians playing the terrorism card to try to gain support for an unrelated issue. Many people feel the government used terrorism as an excuse to enact bad policy (Iraq, Patriot Act, etc.) and therefore calling out politicians for manipulating the terrorism issue should be an effective rhetorical device.

[AzDesertRat]

[ QUOTE ]
I think the best way to approach the money laundering argument is to not only emphasize that there hasn't been a single reported case of this actually happening, but also emphasize that this is a case of politicians playing the terrorism card to try to gain support for an unrelated issue. Many people feel the government used terrorism as an excuse to enact bad policy (Iraq, Patriot Act, etc.) and therefore calling out politicians for manipulating the terrorism issue should be an effective rhetorical device.

[/ QUOTE ]

It's actually simple---demand documented evidence, not hearsay by saying it "could be used". Also ask why regulation could not have been an option to quell those fears instead of prohibition. Let them defend their position instead of you defending yours.

Politicians are stupid--the problem is that the people voting for them are stupider. I can see through a politician because I know the difference between what a politician says and what he means. I wish more people would make that distinction also. Hint: whenever any of them preface a statement by saying "the american people"--the rest of their statement is BS or they want to push their agenda (actually both in most cases)

[jackaaron]

How did they ever convince anyone to disallow the acceptance of US players based on the threat of terrorism?

By disallowing US player deposits, do they actually end the transfer of funds by terrorists? lol

Obviously not...terrorists, if they are using UB, Stars, etc. to xfer money (I actually laughed when I wrote that) are doing so in foreign countries where our law doesn't even matter.

It seems to me that any politician that says this again could easily be silenced by another politician if said politician just had a little bit of common sense.

Of course, I could be missing something (and it wouldn't be the first time).

[MiltonFriedman]

That we have to deal with it is the point of this thread.

The counters seem to be:

1. The so-called "potential" is already covered by US banking rules. Someone in the US, using a US bank account to transfer money for online poker, is already covered by KnowYourCustomer protections for US Banks.

2. Millions of US citizens want to play poker online.

3. If moneylaundering was a real concern, then it would be better policy to regulate money transfers, and let millions of US citizens play online like they want to, with their own money.

[Emperor]

[ QUOTE ]
i dont want to prohibit anything. i dont think the governments should be tracking our money.

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I agree wholeheartedly. Replace the convoluted IRS with a National Sales Tax and the whole money laundering issue goes away.

[Grasshopp3r]

There are many competing non-government currencies out there. If and when one of them gets established, the feds will have no control, anyway.