Pop Culture Saturday: Online Gambling Goes All In, Loses

Pop Culture Saturday is intended to be a more light-hearted look at American culture. There's much more going on in America than the darkness of Liberalism.

Got game? That's the question millions of American online gamblers will be asking as Internet gambling companies begin refusing transactions. Passage of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act on September 30 has ended the party for online gambling companies based outside the United States. The Act requires financial institutions to block credit card and other payments to Internet wagering businesses. Internet gamblers are scrambling to find loopholes in the new law. But they'll be fighting a tide of new laws by this time next year. There are other bills on the horizon to enhance the Federal Wire Act.

News of the imminent prohibition sent two of the biggest online gambling companies into a tailspin. PartyGaming lost 58 percent of its stock value while 888 Holdings value dropped 26 percent. Both of these companies (based in Gibraltar) said they would halt transactions with American bettors if the bill is signed into law. PartyGaming receives 78 percent of its revenues from the United States. Mitch Garber, PartyGaming CEO, responded "This development is a significant setback for our company, our shareholders, our players and our industry." Hey, Mitch!! You should know the house always wins!! You gotta know when to fold 'em!!

The private nature of Internet gambling makes it more accessible by minors as well as more significant in addiction problems for people of all ages. Americans were expected to pay about $5.9 billion this year alone (about half of the $12 billion worldwide) on Internet gambling - and because we're so willing to bet online, we're obvious targets for money laundering schemes by drug traffickers and terrorist financiers. Thousands of families have faced financial ruin and bankruptcy because of Internet gambling addictions. The states have been finding it difficult to enforce because of the international nature of the Internet.

That's when it's time to call in the boys who brought down Al Capone. Participation of the Treasury Department will increase during the next 270 days. That's the number of days the Department has to enact further regulation of American transactions with these sites. The Department now has responsibility for monitoring, identifying, and blocking transactions between individual gamblers and gambling sites. The Act is merely one piece in an arsenal of laws intended to turn the tide of crime and addiction. By July 2007, the action against Internet gambling will have more teeth. This is only the beginning of the war on gambling - and the G-Men have not played all their cards.

Note: I believe that the government ought to regulate gambling until it's out of business. Government ought to regulate the pornography industry until it's out of business. Government ought to tax alcohol until no one can afford it. Government ought to tax cigarettes until no one can afford them. I also realize these sins will never disappear as long as someone can make money from their existence. All of these vices increase crime and decrease healthcare in the United States.