Stop Predatory Gambling
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Who will fight for America’s Lottery Class if not the Department of Justice?
by Les
To underscore how much government’s predatory gambling program of casinos and lotteries best represents what is broken about the American political system, the U.S. Department of Justice released a highly controversial opinion – on the day much of the country is preparing for the Christmas holiday even though the ruling was completed in September- that gives states a green light to expand into internet gambling. It essentially allows state governments to open a lottery retailer in every home, office, dorm room and handheld phone with an internet connection, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.
The New York Times succinctly describes the ruling:
“The Justice Department has reversed its long-held opposition to many forms of Internet gambling, removing a big legal obstacle for states that want to sanction online gambling to help fix their budget deficits.
The legal opinion, issued by the department’s office of legal counsel in September but made public on Friday, came in response to requests by New York and Illinois to clarify whether the Wire Act of 1961, which prohibits wagering over telecommunications systems that cross state or national borders, prevented those states from using the Internet to sell lottery tickets to adults within their own borders.
Although the opinion dealt specifically with lottery tickets, it opened the door for states to allow Internet poker and other forms of online betting that do not involve sports. Many states are interested in online gambling as a way to raise tax revenue.
…Michael Jones, the superintendent of the Illinois Lottery, said the request for clarification was prompted by research the state commissioned several years ago that indicated online sales could drive up participation. “When you look at the Internet, which is what everybody uses these days to buy everything, it seemed like a very, very logical thing to use the Internet to increase the player base,” Mr. Jones said. “States were in dire financial problems — the ability to use the lottery to raise revenue in a nontax way was a significant thing for states to do.”
Today, more than one out of five Americans, according to the Consumer Federation of America, think the best way to achieve long-term financial security is to play the lottery. Who will fight for America’s Lottery Class if not the Department of Justice?
It is time the DOJ and other government agencies whose purpose is to promote more fairness and equality in American society take aim at one of the country’s biggest policy failures in the last forty years- government’s predatory gambling program.
The DOJ should reexamine its ruling and just as importantly, explain why it tried to bury its own ruling by sitting on it for three months and then releasing it on the Friday of Christmas weekend.
Subject
It’s time that groups like yours took a hike. Nobody should tell us how to spend our money. Why don’t you campaign against drugs or alcohol? If someone wants to gamble it should be up to them. If they have a problem, that’s their problem too. It’s not your job to hold the hand of everyone who wants to gamble, or who has a gambling problem. The main problem with society today is that people don’t hold themselves accountable. Millions are against what you do!!
Subject
I wish intrastate lotteries were the problem with this ruling. State lotteries and border-line casinos target “gentile dollars.” They sell themselves as a means to suck money from neighboring states more often than not.
No state has the insfrastructure or enforcement budget to stop intrastate Internet gambling if it is legal on the World Wide Web.
Worse, given the ruling of the World Trade Organization some years back, giving victory to Antigua over the US, the International floodgates will burst open beyond the control of the states. You’ll recall the WTO mandate, that what is legal within the United States, ANY of hte United States, is legal for the world to offer to ALL of our citizens.
We no longer have any legal footing to stop the offshore thugs who have been eyeing our pocketbooks for decades.
Interstate and anonymous
The second paragraph in my post above should have read, “No state has the infrastructure or enforcement budget to stop INTERSTATE Internet gambling . . . ”
Also – The ononymous post starting this group is typical gambler flack. There you may read the words of a true anarchist — one who thinks thinks he should be able to take anyone’s money for any reason. He should be able to spend his money on drugs and prostitution, and to make money on those as well.
You see, the problem isn’t about what the gambler wants to do with his own money. It’s about how he goes about taking yours.
Like Taking Candy From a Baby!
How does one hold one’s self “accountable” for an illness? The person who suggested that be done knows little–if anything–about addiction. Gambling is often referred to as the “hidden addiction” because it can be covered up until in the very late stages. No compulsive gambler admits to how much, how long, how deep into debt until he or she if forced to either by the law, a spouse, an employer, etc. They can be your parent, your grandparent, your clergyperson, your doctor, your child, your next door neighbor, and the list goes on. They were often very respectable in whatever their roles were UNTIL they became compulsive or pathological gamblers. Then, excuse the expression, all bets were off. They became liars, thieves, embezzlers, cheats, and whatever else it takes to feed their addiction. They have lost all control over their gambling–and become powerless. The crime is that they are encouraged by our government who preys upon the weakest among them. Our State Lotteries and state-allowed casinos can’t make money on the person who spends $5 or $10 and walks away. They fill their coffers by preying upon those least able to fend them off! I personally have no intention of telling anyone how to spend their money, but I will fight as hard as I can from having my government TAKE money in this fashion. I pity the person who does not see that the “house” always wins, and you are not “spending” your money. You are throwing it away! And the Lottery Commissions and the Casino Control Boards know it truly is like taking candy from a baby! Have no doubt about it! (They see you coming!!!!)