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Home Front: Culture Wars

New tax on the poor: Internet gambling by states

2011-12-30

A campaign by powerful gaming interests to legalize online gambling in America has won a crucial victory from the B.O. regime. On Friday, the Justice Department issued a legal opinion that allows states to authorize Web-based, nonsports gambling within their borders.

For one, big doubts remain over whether states can indeed restrain such digital games of chance to residents while also keeping children from playing them. State lotteries, for examples, have a poor record of preventing retailers from selling tickets to minors.

And even if states can outsmart tech-savvy teens or out-of-state gamblers, once enough states jump into Internet gambling they will likely be able to work together and create a national scheme for such activity. That would violate the spirit if not the letter of a 2006 federal law banning such interstate activity.

Most of all, bringing Internet gambling to America would hurt the poor, who are most affected when people lose money in government-approved games of chance such as state lotteries or casinos -- not to mention the way it would reinforce a belief that one's future depends on "luck" instead of individual merit.

Posted by:Fred

#5 "State sponsored gambling is not a tax on the poor. It's a tax on people who are bad at math. Admittedly, those people often turn out to be poor."

Agreed, Tom. If you look at the people who play the lottery (or engage in other forms of gambling), they often show a pattern of making lousy life choices - which usually leads one to be poor.

Posted by: Barbara 2011-12-30 22:36

#4 State sponsored gambling is not a tax on the poor. It's a tax on people who are bad at math. Admittedly, those people often turn out to be poor.

Posted by: AuburnTom 2011-12-30 20:52

#3 People who want to gamble have lots of convenient and illegal ways to get their fix. State-level gambling prohibition is a fool's game that simultaneously exposes gamblers to unfair odds from illegal gambling dens and bookies and deprives governments of a share of gambling profits.

Posted by: Zhang Fei 2011-12-30 20:21

#2 Most of all, bringing Internet gambling to America would hurt the poor, who are most affected when people lose money

.."we must protect people from themselves". Gee, how has that worked out? Of course when the non-poor people lose theirs, they get the government to bail them out. It's called TARP and other imaginative names.

We're starting to reach the addicts withdraw point where governments are desperate to find new a new tax fix rather than scaling down operations.

BTW - State lotteries, for examples, have a poor record of preventing retailers from selling tickets to minors.

Anyone have evidence for this statement?

Posted by: P2Kontheroad 2011-12-30 07:37

#1 Most of all, bringing Internet gambling to America would hurt the poor, who are most affected when people lose money

But what about the folks who gain money? When you guys are done bitchin' and moanin' about one side of the argument, why not come over to mine and we'll talk about the other side as well.

Posted by: gorb 2011-12-30 03:11

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