A FANTASTIC READ BY WILD BILL....
SENATE STILL STALLED 12/1/03 - Wild Bill
Here it is the beginning of December and the US Senate still can’t pass this “slam dunk” bill banning offshore money transfers. So, there still are no federal laws against the act of sports betting.
Let the Department of Justice wave the Wire Act in your face as much as they want, but the reality is that betting laws just about everywhere are merely intended to cut off the supply of bookmakers. How many laws exist that specifically ban and criminalize betting itself? Very few indeed, and most are almost never enforced.
Yet, for all those that participate in the RX posting forum, you would think that lawmakers were going to put people in prison for engaging in this activity.
My opinion on this has been simple. Illegal bookmakers and those that operate outside US borders are not important constituents of lawmakers, but the guys who do the betting are. Lawmakers are after two things; money and votes. By trying to ban forms of gaming, they are really feeding the forms of gaming that already exist and placing money into some government coffers.
Though Federal lawmakers continue to force the states to spend more money on social programs, they have a vested interest in making sure the states collect as much as they can through gambling.
In addition, lawmakers say they are against gaming to please the strictly religious constituency. But they stop short of chasing away votes by not making the activity itself illegal. Lawmakers do what they do best, attempt to dupe the people into thinking they are truly public servants with the public’s interest in mind. Yet, the truth isn’t anywhere near as noble.
So let us take stock of what we have. Ideally, the US Congress would like to ban this corrupt and dangerous activity. A hypothetical thought process their strategists could go through appears below.
First of all, one would think they would make it illegal to place a bet? Uh, no we can’t be penalizing those people that actually vote us into office.
Then, one would think they would do things to block people from participating? Sorry, can’t do that to the internet providers. Plus these damn weasel gambling peddlers are too slippery to stop as it is.
Hmm, maybe one would think they would toughen their prosecutions and penalties against bookmakers? Nope, can’t catch them and wouldn’t really serve much purpose because others will pop up.
Well, they could tell banks not to allow money transactions with these guys? No, can’t get banks to stop the flow of drug money and a myriad of other criminal activities.
So what do we have left? I GOT IT! We will tell businesses and people - who we already insist are operating illegally but can’t catch - that if they use the banks to peddle their heinous product we will fine and imprison them some more.
Ok, there we have it. Let’s call this effort on-line gaming prohibition!
Don’t the people that are all doom and gloom see this? I mean, they can’t really go any lower in their quest to shut this down. Yet, they still have trouble getting this one passed!
The bottom line is that everyone against us is bluffing. They want to convince the world their battle is good and just. But all they are doing is talking a bigger game than they can back up. If they really wanted to prevent the societal issues that can arise from on-line or offshore gambling, they ought to bring it out in the open and then do something about it.
Of course that would never happen because they would have to stop their never-ending rhetoric.
SENATE STILL STALLED 12/1/03 - Wild Bill
Here it is the beginning of December and the US Senate still can’t pass this “slam dunk” bill banning offshore money transfers. So, there still are no federal laws against the act of sports betting.
Let the Department of Justice wave the Wire Act in your face as much as they want, but the reality is that betting laws just about everywhere are merely intended to cut off the supply of bookmakers. How many laws exist that specifically ban and criminalize betting itself? Very few indeed, and most are almost never enforced.
Yet, for all those that participate in the RX posting forum, you would think that lawmakers were going to put people in prison for engaging in this activity.
My opinion on this has been simple. Illegal bookmakers and those that operate outside US borders are not important constituents of lawmakers, but the guys who do the betting are. Lawmakers are after two things; money and votes. By trying to ban forms of gaming, they are really feeding the forms of gaming that already exist and placing money into some government coffers.
Though Federal lawmakers continue to force the states to spend more money on social programs, they have a vested interest in making sure the states collect as much as they can through gambling.
In addition, lawmakers say they are against gaming to please the strictly religious constituency. But they stop short of chasing away votes by not making the activity itself illegal. Lawmakers do what they do best, attempt to dupe the people into thinking they are truly public servants with the public’s interest in mind. Yet, the truth isn’t anywhere near as noble.
So let us take stock of what we have. Ideally, the US Congress would like to ban this corrupt and dangerous activity. A hypothetical thought process their strategists could go through appears below.
First of all, one would think they would make it illegal to place a bet? Uh, no we can’t be penalizing those people that actually vote us into office.
Then, one would think they would do things to block people from participating? Sorry, can’t do that to the internet providers. Plus these damn weasel gambling peddlers are too slippery to stop as it is.
Hmm, maybe one would think they would toughen their prosecutions and penalties against bookmakers? Nope, can’t catch them and wouldn’t really serve much purpose because others will pop up.
Well, they could tell banks not to allow money transactions with these guys? No, can’t get banks to stop the flow of drug money and a myriad of other criminal activities.
So what do we have left? I GOT IT! We will tell businesses and people - who we already insist are operating illegally but can’t catch - that if they use the banks to peddle their heinous product we will fine and imprison them some more.
Ok, there we have it. Let’s call this effort on-line gaming prohibition!
Don’t the people that are all doom and gloom see this? I mean, they can’t really go any lower in their quest to shut this down. Yet, they still have trouble getting this one passed!
The bottom line is that everyone against us is bluffing. They want to convince the world their battle is good and just. But all they are doing is talking a bigger game than they can back up. If they really wanted to prevent the societal issues that can arise from on-line or offshore gambling, they ought to bring it out in the open and then do something about it.
Of course that would never happen because they would have to stop their never-ending rhetoric.
