The big news is about how the U.S. House of Representatives has voted to “ban” Internet gambling by making it impossible to use banks and credit cards to pay for it. From the Reno Gazette-Journal:
On Tuesday, U.S. House members took a step toward banning online poker and other forms of Internet gambling. Lawmakers voted 317-93 to approve a measure that would prohibit banks and credit-card companies from paying off debts incurred on gambling Web sites.
I’ve got a few problems with the way online gambling is being depicted–as something that seeps out of PCs and infects the unwilling. Pathological gambling is a problem for some, but isn’t a problem for many. Alcoholism plagues thousands, if not millions of Americans, yet our attempt at National Prohibition ended in failure in 1933.
Then there’s this quote:
“You can lose your house with a click of a mouse and never leave your home,” said Tom Grey, executive director of the National Coalition Against Legalized Gambling, which opposes all gambling. “Why would we not want to keep our homes off limits to illegal gambling?”
It started off like Dr. Seuss, but ended like something out of an Ed Wood movie.
Congress needs to carefully study Internet gambling as part of the larger economic, political, and social phenomenon of gambling in America. I learned while writing Cutting the Wire that attempts to “ban” gambling like this have usually ended in failure. We should learn from the past.