How The Online Gambling Ban Could Lead To Legalized Online Gambling

from the follow-the-logic dept

Tue, Oct 10th 2006 5:54pm — Mike Masnick

It may be quite a stretch (and it seems unlikely to be on purpose), but could the new online gambling ban actually bring the country closer to legalized online gambling? The Technology Liberation Front is pointing to an article at the Economist about the new legislation to ban online gambling where it discusses some of the unintended (but not unforeseeable) consequences. First, it does little to actually stop online gambling -- but will push more online gamblers towards less trustworthy sites. Second, it pretty much kills the valuation of the legitimate (offshore) online casino firms (which it has). Then, the big American casino groups, who had fought against online gambling for a long time, seeing it as competition, come to their senses and realize there's no way to stop online gambling. So, then they start buying up the offshore online casino firms, now that they're so cheap due to the US ban. Then, you guessed it, they turn their lobbying effort to the US government to legalize the online gambling sites they now own. Anyone want to place odds on this happening?

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18 Comments

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Chris, 10 Oct 2006 @ 6:05pm

I start the pool
"Anyone want to place odds on this happening?"

I start the pool with $500 saying that this will happen, and homeland security will be affected greatly

come on people, our country is falling apart...
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Mark, 10 Oct 2006 @ 7:29pm

Solution
Etrade should give all past members of offshore betting sites 10 free trades and 75$ to start playing. Hell, that's less than the subscriber acquisition costs for XM or Vonage. (don't quote me on the actual numbers)

Hell, even lower the costs, give them $100 in penny stocks.

The DOW is at an all time record, why not gamble?
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Stu, 10 Oct 2006 @ 8:22pm

It's guarnteed to happen.
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Anonymous Coward, 10 Oct 2006 @ 8:29pm

Re: Solution
Amen. If it was so @#$)*$ing obvious how to beat the market, the market would already be doing it.

Garbage. Its a gamble and the only room for savvy is in the big leagues.

Ill stick with my index funds. You can't beat the market, but you can join it for steady guaranteed growth.
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Rick, 10 Oct 2006 @ 8:56pm

Public Domain Theft
I sure hope this can be proven. Congress is intentionally devaluing an industry for the future profit of it's corporate sponsors?

With the new wave of ethical expectations hitting congress, this would be a great nail in the coffin.

Vote 'em all out!
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Cleverboy, 10 Oct 2006 @ 9:12pm

You can tell me, I told you so...
I'll happily place the odds in the lower 5% chance for the next 10 years. Sure, something may change going into the 10 year mark, afterall, some skeptics thought Google wouldn't by YouTube, --and, well, that certainly happened.

Casino groups know their business. If they re-open the doors for themselves, chances are it will be open for others too, and the law of unintended consequences kicks in. As it stands, I'm sure they're quite proud to have stamped out online gambling advertisement through the major portals... capping it with the credit card ban. Along with imitation designer purses, I'm sure credit card companies we're beating the door down for the risk.

If casion group lobbyists even crack that door, the bubbling, roiling mess will ramp back up like a tsunami of deflating mojo.
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Solipsist, 10 Oct 2006 @ 9:42pm

That law won't stop it.
The technology is already here for "net cash". (Secure anonymous transactions.) Look for more Neteller type startups, and Neteller to tighten its privacy rules even further.
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Anonymous Coward, 10 Oct 2006 @ 9:49pm

i dont understand the big deal.

tas it and legalize it. i dont gamble but why should our government take away our freedoms such as this. isnt america supposed to be the land of the free? and we arent allowed to gamble online? am i missing something here? if the public wants to gamble, let them gamble.
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Solipsist, 10 Oct 2006 @ 11:25pm

That law won't stop it.
The technology is already here for "net cash". (Secure anonymous transactions.) Look for more Neteller type startups, and Neteller to tighten its privacy rules even further.
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Marque, 10 Oct 2006 @ 11:25pm

hehe
they're thinking about leaglizing this yet they ban and give a sh*t about torrent and file sharing?!??!?!?! eerr, anyone see teh logic in this????
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Dizzley, 10 Oct 2006 @ 11:47pm

US interests
As well as being a vote-winner for taking the moral high-ground - this always looked to me more like the onshore gambling companies saying:

"Sheesh! All these foreigners are taking Americans for suckers. That's OUR job!"

And Congress explicitly protects US commercial interests. Gambling is huge business.

It's reassuring to think that such a great industry with a pleasant history is being supported.

Nothing so conspiratorial I think - protectionism pure and simple. (I'll give you 5-1 on).
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Larry, 11 Oct 2006 @ 2:59am

Re: Public Domain Theft
Rick,

Please, check history first before blurting "Vote'em all out". They have all been voted out before and the stupidity continues. Remember "prohibition". I don't think anyone that voted for prohibition in the 1920s is still in congress - but the same assinine regulations continue to come forth from DC. So, vote them all out, sure, but who are you going to vote back in? Answer is "the next set of bungling fools".

Get in touch.
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Larry, 11 Oct 2006 @ 3:06am

Re: I start the pool
Chris,

Our country is falling apart? Lord, get a grip. The country does not officially fall apart until they come and arrest you or shoot you for making stupid statements.
It's gambling, people, who cares if it's legal or not? When it's legal the govenment gets to regulate it and which government idiot do you want to over see that regulatory commission? Let it be illegal and those stupid enough to gamble and lose money (a 100% for sure bet) can feel free to do so. What difference does it make if one loses money to legal or illegal gambling? And don't come back with how much money people can make gambling. If that was true then Vegas would not exist.
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FreedomFirst, 11 Oct 2006 @ 9:19am

Larry,

Just because you think it's stupid to gamble doesn't mean it should be illegal. That's why this is a big deal. Our country is founded on the freedom to allow us to pursue what makes us happy assuming it doesn't infringe on other peoples freedoms. Many of us enjoy gambling, just like you may enjoy an activity that I don't enjoy. But I will never take your rights away to do what it is you love doing, why would you do it to mine. The "loss of money" argument is a red herring. Watching the movies is a 100% loss of money, but you're paying for entertainment. Gambling is not a 100% loss of money (mathematics and patient understanding can help learn this fact), but even if it was it's still a form of entertainment for people. So yes, our country is falling apart when an activity that millions of Americans enjoy is silently banned by a few corrupt buerocrats.
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CDL, 11 Oct 2006 @ 10:43am

No can do
Is it ok if I put my money down after you win the bet, since until then I can't gamble online.
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Anonymous Coward, 11 Oct 2006 @ 4:09pm

Online gambling should be legal, as should prostitution, and boobs/genitals on free-to-air TV. If it's good enough for Canada/Australia/New Zealand/Europe, it's good enough for the "freedom loving" United States.
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Dr. Francis John Maguire, Ph.D., 20 Jan 2007 @ 7:49pm

Internet Gambling Ban
This is a major step in legalizing online gambling. The first step is to make present availability illegal. That wil erase the competition. Then legalize it here in the U.S. and tax it just like they did with Off-Track Betting (OTB) beginning over 35 years ago in New YorK City.

It is coming!
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Ellen, 25 Jun 2007 @ 5:23pm

Now that it is illegal to gamble online but you st
I have gambled online for sometime now and won. But guess what? You can still gamble online but your odds of winning now are null to none. So I might as well just send them my money. Where is the goverment when you need them? They stopped no online gambling, they just made it more legal for us to loose.
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