US Government Creating Gambling Monopoly
14th November, 2007
Massachusetts Governor, Deval Patrick, decided that online poker is so scary and damaging, that anyone, found playing it online should be put in prison for two years and pay $25,000 fine for such an unlawful action. On the other hand there is a pressure from the governor to open three new casinos in the state of Massachusetts.
This seems controversial and hypocritical even for the Patrick’s fellow democrat, US Representative, Barney Frank, who is one of the sponsors of the federal legislation to license and regulate online gambling nationally. “Why is gambling in a casino OK and gambling on the Internet is not?” He wondered.
Radley Balko wrote this about Patrick in Reason magazine: “I’ve seen the same politician push bricks-and-mortar casinos in one bill while restricting online gambling in another.” Balko also stated that Texas, Illinois and Virginia have restricted private gambling and started getting very involved in promoting lottery scratch cards and poker themes.
The overall picture looks like US governors are trying their hardest to stop all private firms to profit from gambling in the country, whilst converting the gamblers to other sources, which governors would profit from primarily. Isn’t it time to start putting the record straight and getting the balance of power back to the people? America is supposed to be an example of democracy, or is it?
