Land of the Unfree

[financeguy]

Online poker sites shut down and charged with fraud in US crackdown - Telegraph

FBI Banned Online Poker Websites FullTilt Poker, PokerStars and AbsolutePoker



The US risks becoming the laughing stock of the globe with these regulations. The sensible thing is to legalise and regulate online gambling - and then tax the profits! It's a no-brainer.

 

[Liesje]

I can agree with your second sentence, but the first, well, unfortunately I think we are the laughing stock for things a lot more consequential than online poker.

 

[Pearl]

A friend of mine just got back from a 3-month stay in Europe, and she told me Europeans see the USA as a joke in so many ways.

 

[Liesje]

Plenty of Americans do too!

 

[mobvok]

It sounds like these companies may not have followed the law, stupid and moronic as it is. But between this and eco-terrorism, the FBI sounds like it's devoting precious man hours to relatively minor things.

There's an argument to be made (particularly with regards to state lotteries) that there's a sub population of problematic addicts the government really should prefer not to take advantage of, but gambling is sort of similar to prostitution IMO that Americans are really making it difficult on ourselves by trying to tackle social phenomenon in this manner.

 

[financeguy]

It sounds like these companies may not have followed the law, stupid and moronic as it is. But between this and eco-terrorism, the FBI sounds like it's devoting precious man hours to relatively minor things.

Well, as you say it does look like they didn't follow the law - but it's the use of a sledgehammer to crack a walnut approach that I find objectionable.

There's an argument to be made (particularly with regards to state lotteries) that there's a sub population of problematic addicts the government really should prefer not to take advantage of, but gambling is sort of similar to prostitution IMO that Americans are really making it difficult on ourselves by trying to tackle social phenomenon in this manner.

Indeed. Many countries have found a way to legislate for online gambling but also deal with the problems associated with the addictive nature of gambling.