CONGRESS VOTES TO BAN ONLINE POKER

[Lawman007]

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We all love poker, but we need to be honest and admit that the other side has a few pretty solid arguments to make. There are real victims here.

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Well, let's see, cigarettes don't just break you, they kill you, so let's outlaw those, too. So does alcohol to excess, so let's go back to prohibition. And while we're at it, let's outlaw casino gambling, too, since it's just as bad as internet gambling, and shut down Las Vegas, Tunica, and Atlantic City, to protect people from themselves.

[frommagio]

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We all love poker, but we need to be honest and admit that the other side has a few pretty solid arguments to make. There are real victims here.

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Well, let's see, cigarettes don't just break you, they kill you, so let's outlaw those, too. So does alcohol to excess, so let's go back to prohibition. And while we're at it, let's outlaw casino gambling, too, since it's just as bad as internet gambling, and shut down Las Vegas, Tunica, and Atlantic City, to protect people from themselves.

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I hear you, and my position is still that gambling should be legal. (Did you notice that I'm in agreement with you?) But there are families and young children suffering from (typically) their fathers' problem, and it just makes me feel very sad.

Can't have freedom without accepting responsibility, but it's a real kick in the teeth for the spouse and little kids who did nothing wrong. So I understand why there's momentum behind a bill like this.

[Jack Bando]

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Quit spamming all the forums with this crap you [censored] idiot. This is a POKER site. We are all well aware of what happened yesterday. If you don't have something less vague than "YOU BETTER DO SOMETHING BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE!!!" or "THE SKY IS FALLING!!!" to say then please just STFU. There are already a million threads on this. You're not breaking any news to anybody.

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You're the idiot, because the sky IS falling. The bill is halfway to becoming law because not enough online poker players knew about it.

All these threads keep getting moved to this forum where the same 25 people keep reading the same posts. There are lots of 2+2ers who know nothing about this because these threads keep getting moved to this forum that nobody comes to. Check out the NVG forum if you don't believe me.

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This type of anti-internet gambling law has been this far before, it failed.

[frommagio]

Where can I find out how my representative voted?

[Hince]

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Until I read the Slate article about that self-professed "professional poker player" who gambled away his entire bankroll and then went through nearly all of the family's untouchable rainy day reserves, I would have been 100% dead set against this bill - couldn't see the other side. Now, I must admit that I find myself thinking about the damage that is done to families by problem gamblers. I'm no longer so sure that my position is as well-founded as I once believed it to be.

There are definitely real innocent victims out there, but I still feel that the greater good is served by the US government staying out of it. But I feel for innocent victims such as the family in the Slate article.

I'm still a regular internet player, but I don't feel very good about it right now.

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Although I think you are entitled to your opinion, I don't think it is well thought out.

Let's just examine the cero's case or any professional for that matter. Cero considered himself a professional. The article even said he paid taxes. I'm assuming he files his taxes as a business. ANY entrepenuer of ANY industry knows there is some level of risk involed. To say that Cero is a victim is totally absurd.

Is a restaurant owner who takes a morgage on his house to pay his business expenses a victim? Should we ban all people from starting businesses or investing in a business because there is some level of risk involved?

[NapoleonDolemite]

Please: Never ever say that anyone is a "victim" of gambling. You have free will. Exercise it wisely or poorly and suffer the consequences or reap the rewards. A victim is someone who has something imposed on them through no fault of their own.

[McBusto]

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Please: Never ever say that anyone is a "victim" of gambling. You have free will. Exercise it wisely or poorly and suffer the consequences or reap the rewards. A victim is someone who has something imposed on them through no fault of their own.

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Family members of compulsive gamblers could be victims or gambling. This in no way however makes banning online poker justfiable. People are shopahaulics, and I don't see them banning online shopping.

[Chippmunstr]

My two non-american cents:

Are you sure this law is really about protecting gamblers with a problem?

I'd say it's more about capital leaving the country (in the shape of rake) and not being taxable in the US, plus other reasons of a character more connected to business than the wellbeing of problem gamblers and their families.

[PE101]

You're probably right. That's why the US should legalize it (the hosting of poker within the US), regulate it and tax it...

[PE101]

By the way, this is the same Congress that still subsidizes US farmers for growing tobacco... [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]