How stupid are these people? My family has worked for public officials for decades, and I used to hope that at least some of them had a clue. Now I guess I know better, as my Congresswoman (and someone who was at my freaking rehearsal dinner party) voted to suppress my freedoms without a thought.
If this bill acted to regulate and tax Internet gambling, so be it. If this bill actually outlawed all internet gambling, fine by me -- I would disagree, but I understand that cometimes the "majority" rules.
Instead we get a mishmash of special interest pandering and privacy violations that makes the Patriot Act seem like a tame security measure.
Problems from the text of the bill itself, which people apparently have not read. Of course, how can you -- it's very tough to find the actual text of a bill as passed and be sure you're not reading a prior iteration. An open and accessible Congress, eh? Anyhow, my quick review (read Cardplayer for something much more in-depth):
1. The only stated basis for the Act is "Internet gambling is a growing cause of debt collection problems for insured depository institutions and the consumer credit industry." Later on they make vague accusations of possible money laundering. So the bill exists to assist big banks? Why do they need our help? I thought this was a great moral crusade!
2. Wager is defined as "the staking or risking by any person of something of value upon the outcome of a contest of others, a sporting event, or a game subject to chance". Is poker subject to chance? Under this broad-ass definition, probably. Note the odd carve out for "contests":
`(viii) any participation in a fantasy or simulation sports game, an educational game, or a contest, that--
`(I) is not dependent solely on the outcome of any single sporting event or nonparticipant's singular individual performance in any single sporting event;
`(II) has an outcome that reflects the relative knowledge of the participants, or their skill at physical reaction or physical manipulation (but not chance), and, in the case of a fantasy or simulation sports game, has an outcome that is determined predominantly by accumulated statistical results of sporting events, including any nonparticipant's individual performances in such sporting events; and
`(III) offers a prize or award to a participant that is established in advance of the game or contest and is not determined by the number of participants or the amount of any fees paid by those participants.
3. Note that if you had enough money, you could get yourself out of this. Not sure why Harrah's didn't man up, since this will seriously affect their WSOP bottom line, but big swingers like lotteries and horse racing are specifically exempted. The only logical conclusion is that their lobbyists did a good job, as there is little difference I can note between those forms of wagering and others banned by the broad brush of this act.
4. Banks are authorized and in fact required to invade my privacy to determine where my EFTs are going to and coming from, without a warrant or any need for probable cause, and then are required to block my transactions to certain companies, again without warrant or other judicial intervention. Same thing for my ISP. So I can go to any porn site, hate group, or Nambla, but my ISP has the right (and legal duty) to block my access to gambling sites.
5. Violators can be sent to jail for 5 years and/or fined. Again though, seems like this punishes the businesses, not the players themselves.
6. This bill could conceivably result in millions in private sector mandated costs. This may trickle down into bank fees and the like.
Long story short, this is a fairly disgusting example of special interests and moral pandering of the worst political sort. Shame on you, Republicans, for pushing this through amd making it an agenda item. Shame on you, Democrats, for going along. Shame on you, Mr. President, for tacitly accepting this purposeless restriction of freedoms.
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