Stop Predatory Gambling

Our country cannot afford any more Bernie Madoff-style something-for-nothing schemes

by spgadmin

Bloomberg News has a report about yesterday’s predatory internet gambling hearing before the U.S. House Financial Services Committee. According to the story: 

A top Federal Bureau of Investigation official said internet-based poker games can be subject to manipulation. “There are several ways to cheat at online poker, none of which are legal,” Shawn Henry, assistant director for the FBI’s cyber division, wrote in a letter to Representative Spencer Bachus of Alabama.

“Technology exists to manipulate online poker games in that it would only take two or three players working in unison to defeat the other players who are not part of the team,” Henry wrote.

No better issue better symbolizes the choice we have for the future of America than the debate around whether to legalize predatory internet gambling. During the Great Depression, government leaders actively encouraged citizens to save money by buying savings bonds. That was how we as a country were going to pick ourselves up as well as pay for the war effort. Today, during the Great Recession, the daily voice of government encourages people lose their money on state-sponsored gambling products like $50 instant lottery scratch tickets, slot machines and now, if the predatory gambling trade gets their way, internet gambling.   

Our country can’t afford any more Bernie Madoff-style something-for-nothing schemes.