homedog - doesn't really pay to be "anti-regulation" right now. 6 months ago, sure but it is all a moot point since UIGEA was passed. One thing the govt rarely does is back off regulating something once it starts. UIGEA is regulation, and I doubt we can ever go backwards from there, although i certainly wish we could
blogguy- we don;t need to make any points against UIGEA. Antigua has already done that work for us. What we need is people in power (WTO and other countries with legal gambling) to slap the U.S. govt in the face and wake them the fuck up to reality. Existing international treaties and agreements are already in place to address a lot of this.
The Wire Act is irrelevant at this point, unless the DOJ decides they want to start prosecuting players. Offshore operators are essentially immune to it unless they come into the US (no idea WTF Carruthers was thinking). My condolences to JC, but I think he was the only completely offshore operation ever convicted. All other prosecutions that I can recall had a large stateside component. Plenty of people have been indicted but as long as they stay off US soil they are fine. So that is not a real compelling problem to me.
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Should our goal be just to repeal the UIGEA?
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Yes, period.
I think the industry was perfect before the Carruthers arrest. No one was really worried about losing money. Most scams and frauds had already been exposed. We knew who the safe operators were. The industry advanced a lot in the last 10 years. Just leave it alone.
What points should I address?
underage gambling? If YOUR kids rack up debt on YOUR credit card, then that is YOUR problem. Govt is never the solution to child rearing. Raise your kids on your own. "Protecting the children" has never in my eyes been a legitimate excuse for prohibiting adults from pursuing "grown-up" activities.
terrorism? that's been addressed ad nauseum already. But if you think prohibiting money transfer from US to Costa Rica has any impact on planes being blown up, you are smoking a lot better shit than me. There are hundreds of miles of unpatrolled border, and the areas that are monitored have secret tunnels so drugs can come across the border...somehow., preventing me from using a credit card in my name to make a deposit to a sportsbook solves that problem? No.
Problem gambling? If you have a gambling problem, seek help. I don't. And to be blunt I really don;t give a shit about people who do. We all have our own problems to deal with. Are we banning alcohol because some people are alcoholics? Apparently a gopher or groundhog is the Pennsylvania state gambling mascot, and until he stops popping up on my TV every hour telling me to buy lottery tickets, the govt has no valid argument that they are addressing "problem gambling".
Organized crime? Las Vegas was BUILT on organized crime. That is somewhat of a circular argument because if you make something illegal of course it is now part of organized crime. Decriminalize it and it is not organized crime anymore. Problem solved. A company like BOS can be a legitimate company with no crime involvement if you let it.