Cause its evil, that's why!

Ok, so I’m angry.

So the House just passed a bill to ban online gambling, a subject about which I am very passionate. Of course, much of this comes from the sizable amount of money I have made over the past year by playing online, but there’s more than that. This is an act of blatant, unrepentant hypocrisy on the part of the federal government. Sports betting online is illegal, except of course online horseracing bets, which are totally legal, cause those are different. Online slots are illegal, but state lotteries, which may constitute the most regressive taxing system in America, are perfectly legal in 42 states and the District of Columbia. In fact, if you don’t want to drive down to the convenience store, you can buy your lottery tickets online! Just don’t spend any time on those evil sites that allow you a chance at skill games that offer some amount of positive expected value (poker, blackjack with bonuses). If anyone can think of a logically sound moral justification of this double standard, I’d love to hear it.

Of course, I am in favor of allowing all forms of gambling in this country, from poker to table games to lotteries. And when the government finally realizes that they have allowed millions of dollars in taxes to slip through their fingers by outlawing online gaming, they might even agree with me. Until then, we have to listen to justifications like this:

Supporters of the measure argued that Internet betting can be addictive and can lead people to lose their savings.

Leach said the problem is particularly acute for young people who are frequently on the Internet. "Never before has it been so easy to lose so much money so quickly at such a young age," he said.

Of course, the same could be said for the stock market, but I digress.

At this point all I can hope is that this bill, if it is passed, will be as highly effective as most other prohibitions in this country. Like that time they banned alcohol and then no one ever drank it again and it was a big success. Or the way no one can buy drugs nowadays. Oh well, one can only hope…