Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Clearly Bush and others who seek to ban on-line gambling have, as usual, a view that extends no further than the end of their noses.
They obviously have failed to learn the lessons of history, which has REPEATDELY shown that banning the "consumption" of something which many (i.e., a high percentage of the population) favor/desire (whether YOU desire/favor it or not) does NOT stop that item from being made available.
Instead, it causes the consumption by those people who want it to take place underground (think speakeasies in Prohibition, going to "back-street butchers" for abortions, etc.), ultimately resulting in great harm to the populace without "solving the problem" and, in the end, generating MASSIVE profits for those who supply the (suddenly illegal) service or item (think Mafia, drug lords, etc.).
And, of course, when these hoodlums reap all the financial benefit, they become POWERFUL (think Al Capone, Columbian drug lords, etc.) and then have the resources and power to TRULY corrupt legal and political processes (think bribing of judges, police, politicians) to help them RULE the masses for their self-serving benefit (think gangs terrorizing communities in L.A., Chicago, NY, Salt Lake City, etc.).
Nope, like it or not, banning things is NOT the answer. It does NOT make them go away or stop and it DOES give power and money to all the BAD people who would otherwise NOT have access to such a vast resource.
You would think that anyone aware of and advocating the way free-market supply-and-demand works (think Bush, the Republican platform) would be smart enough to recognize that the same thing applies to things like alcohol consumption, gambling, prostitution, etc., and accept that those things ARE going to exist, banned or not, and at least make those things somehow BENEFIT the society/populace, by keeping them legal but making them pay (via taxes, etc.) to engage in such enterprises.
And NOT taxed in a way that is, once again, designed to push them underground but, rather, to a point where it's more economically beneficial for them to stay legal, even though it costs them (think legalized gambling in Atlantic City, legalized state lotteries, etc.).
Remember, every time you buy a lottery ticket, that until very recently, lotteries in the 20th century here were illegal, but people still bought lottery-type tickets ... only it was called "the numbers game" and it was run by the mob, who got all the money from it.
Now that it's legal most places, the STATES and the population get the money and benefit from it (think education, health and senior citizen program funding that is supplemented by revenues from lottery sales). etc.)