FreedomAtStake's Blog

The war on gambling is failing

By FreedomAtStake | View all Posts
Posted Thursday, June 05, 2008 11:42 AM

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This story from the St. Petersburg Times caught my eye today.

Apparently, a storefront Internet center was shut down a month or so ago [why is this only breaking now?] because it was effectively operating as an online casino.

According to the article, "patrons paid money upon entry and were able to load the money value onto a magnetic card, then given access to the computers... Patrons then slid the magnetic cards through a reader to start a gambling session, placing bets on poker and keno, or slot games, through the Internet".

If this sounds like a Kinkos to you, don't worry, this is where it gets good.

The key to this crime is that the center paid cash payouts to people who won online.

This reminds me a lot of a common situation that used to happen 15-20 years ago when bar owners would frequently honor the customers' winnings when they played the video poker games. Of course, that crime was eliminated when many jurisdictions started cashing in themselves by licensing VLTs.

In fact, it is a nearly identical situation, with the only difference that people are playing online.

The government can stop crimes like these - and cash in financially - by simply legalizing online gambling and regulating it.

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User:	Freedom@Stake
Joined:	July 1995
Location:	Ireland
Team:	Florida State Seminoles
Occupation:	Media

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