This hypocrisy really makes me sad

[WVU]

the feds would love to control $2 billion in gambling taxes because it is "new" money and not already earmarked. That makes it worth much much more than perceived. There has never been a time where that much money have come into existance that wasn't already earmarked. Think about it

 

[HarryCaray]

I will go on record and state that I believe GAMBLING brings more families together than it destroys nationwide.

I would have to strongly disagree with that one. Gambling most definitely tears apart families quite regularly. It can ruin otherwise very upstanding people, I mean RUIN them. Suicide, divorce, losing the house, job, jail time (for commiting crimes to pay for losses), I have seen them all happen.

That said, the point to me is there are plenty of things out there that can ruin your life. This is the "land of the free" and I have the right to pick my poison. Gambling is potentially devastating, but I am an adult and if I want to risk that, then it is my right.

 

[Brock Landers]

I would have to strongly disagree with that one. Gambling most definitely tears apart families quite regularly. It can ruin otherwise very upstanding people, I mean RUIN them. Suicide, divorce, losing the house, job, jail time (for commiting crimes to pay for losses), I have seen them all happen.

That said, the point to me is there are plenty of things out there that can ruin your life. This is the "land of the free" and I have the right to pick my poison. Gambling is potentially devastating, but I am an adult and if I want to risk that, then it is my right.

what sorts of crimes have you personally see people commit or know of to correct gambling losses?

 

[WVU]

how about fraud? passing bum checks and or credit card fraud

 

[beating.vegas]

I sit here in the good old Midwest. I can drive one minute to the convenience store to buy lotto tickets. I can drive 5 minutes to the OTB and bet on any number of horses, dogs, or parlay combination of them. I can buy unlimited booze and drink till I pass out. I can look at porn on the internet. I can drive to an adult bookstore and buy filth with cash that is taxed. I can drive 45 minutes to a casino where I can bet on whether a 6 rolls before a 7 on a dice table, or if 34 hits on the roulette wheel. I can fly 3 hours and bet on sports in Nevada. All that is fine and just part of being an American. But if I bet on sports in the comfort of my own home, and pass on the porn and booze, the gov't wants to concoct the idea that I'm somehow violating the standards of morality. Give me a fucking break. It's just like the NCAA telling me that they can't have a Div 1 playoff, because it would interfere with class time. But Div 1AA, Div 2, and Div 3......those guys can have a playoff because they don't need the class time. One thing is very obvious. Money talks, and this is all about money. The gov't is so arrogant and hypocritical, and they are pissed because they are not getting their cut. I can't stand to hear one more word about this morality bullshit. It's all a bunch of lies. Just shut up.

Had to get that off my chest.

I'm out. ucking:

OUSTANDING:toast:

 

[BASEHEAD]

I agree Illini, it's all about tax revenue.

If the government makes $$$ off it, it's just fine.

Thats all its about.......GOP cannot come out and say that tho.....so you get the morality BS b/c it will also get them votes as this ploy a)doesnt make them look like tax hungry politicians and b) appeals to the far right base.

Internet gambling will NEVER be illegal IMHO.Too much $$$$ to be skimmed.

 

[CoachLT]

I really dont think it is about tax revenues.

I think there are a few bible thumping freedom hating people in the government right now. These people are always present and always taking on the newest and latest thing they consider BAD. First it was alcohol, then it was porn in the 60s and 70s. All that became legalized - mostly because people did not give a shit if it was illegal and you can't control something that is illegal. Now the newest and greatest thing to take on is gambling. In the 80s and early 90s, you could call a bookie and bet, but these phone bookies weren't buying billboards in Times Square, advertising on ESPN, etc. The internet takes off, bookies consolidate online, they make more money, they advertise more. Now this is the new thing the bible thumpers are going to try to stamp out. Like alcohol, like guns, like porn, it won't fly. It might become illegal for a few years, but it will make absolutely no difference. If stores could find ways to give you alcohol in the middle of Manhattan in the 1920s, businesses will find ways to get money offshore in the 2000s.

Cocaine, prostitution, onshore sports wagering, home poker games, weed, etc are all illegal. Would anyone at this forum have a hard time finding any of these in the next 12 hours if they tried?

Abortion is the best example. It has been illegal in the past. Why did the supreme court make it legal? They made it legal because people were doing it anyways and young women were dying. If the no abortion law was 100% effective, it would still be constitutional.

If somehow someway the government stops all internet transactions (impossible, but anyways), sports gambling will move to organized crime familes and in 5 years, they will be repealing the act because 12 college kids have been shot for not paying their debts.

This is not about taxes. If it was about taxes, the government would simply make it legal and tax it. All the goverment would have to do is say: MGM, WYNN, ESPN, etc we are legalizing online gambling. We are taxing 33% of the profits. To make it manageable, there is a $10,000,000 fee for a license. The line to sign up would be at least 100 long... Does anyone realize how little the$12,000,000,000 (6000000000 from the US) that offshores make is to the government. Even at a 33% tax rate, that is $2billion dollars. Microsoft alone pays more than this in taxes each year and think of how many companies there are in the US.

The issue is a religious and freedom issue. It has absolutely nothing to do with the fed government getting a cut.

Remember the fed government does not get a cut from lotteries. Lotteries are a state issue.

I still do not understand what law prevents Vegas from offering online wireless gambing.

-Sean

Sean, I could not have said it better! The USA has leaders that care ONLY about Race, Welfare, Guns, Abortion, and Religion. They are trying to remake the USA as a nation that is dominated by religion. Does this goal sound familiar? Middle East maybe? Wake up, Americans! Our liberties are being eroded in the name of "the war on terror" LT

 

[HarryCaray]

what sorts of crimes have you personally see people commit or know of to correct gambling losses?

2 acquantainces of my Dad's, including the (now former) mayor of a neighboring town, have embezzeled funds to gamble with or to cover gambling losses. One doctored the books and one used the company credit card to buy over $30,000 in chips at the local riverboat casino, over a couple months time.

Both are currently in jail if I am not mistaken.

 

[Brock Landers]

2 acquantainces of my Dad's, including the (now former) mayor of a neighboring town, have embezzeled funds to gamble with or to cover gambling losses. One doctored the books and one used the company credit card to buy over $30,000 in chips at the local riverboat casino, over a couple months time.

Both are currently in jail if I am not mistaken.

HOLY COW! I'll have a budweiser after reading that Harry!

 

[HarryCaray]

HOLY COW! I'll have a budweiser after reading that Harry!

This one's for you Brock! :toast:

 

[Brock Landers]

This one's for you Brock! :toast:

You coming out for the RX Bash? Would like to meet a fellow Illinoisian!

 

[HarryCaray]

You coming out for the RX Bash? Would like to meet a fellow Illinoisian!

I am not...maybe next year. Got a new job right now, and getting married in a couple months, which puts a Vegas bachelor party, an out of town wedding, and a Jamaica honeymoon on the calendar. :nopityA:

I have some friends in Champaign, are you a student or what?