Online Gambling

I’ll admit it: I’m a trend-whore. I really got into Texas Hold ‘Em when the movie “Rounders” came out and got even more involved as the World Series of Poker and the World Poker Tour started getting play on TV. I started playing with friends in neighborhood games but also found a lot of games by playing online at Pacific Poker. I’ve done OK for myself playing online: I’d say I’ve broken even overall. I have friends who have done much better. The fact is that it was nice to be able to fire up the computer and play a real money game against people from all over the world. Now I can’t do that.

The first indication (and I’m slipping in my coverage of news items, apparently) was when Poker Champs canceled my account because I was a U.S. citizen. I’d never deposited money there, so I wasn’t upset but I was intrigued. Why did my status as a U.S. citizen matter? I assumed that there must be some pressure coming from our fucked up government, and I was right.

The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act was attached to an unrelated bill designed to increase security at U.S. Ports. Yeah…that’s your government in action. This is how bills designed to strip you of your freedoms get passed: they get attached to unrelated bills that will pass no matter what. This bill doesn’t stop you from playing poker online, it simply stops anyone from accepting funds from a U.S. bank for gambling purposes.

Now here’s the thing: politicians and so-called family-first organizations would have you believe that the reason they introduced these bills in the first place was to save us from the evils of gambling. This is spin, AKA: bullshit. What they are really pissed about is that they cannot tax your gambling and they can’t force you to report your winnings. Therefore, if they can’t have a slice of the pie, they’re going to make sure that no one else can have any either. Don’t buy their moral fortitude bullshit; these are the most corrupt people on the face of the earth and they make their God blush daily. They just want to know how they’re going to make their buck and if they can’t they won’t let it exist.

So now I can no longer play real poker for real money online. And don’t anyone tell me I can still play for free; I know I can. Who gives a shit? The free games are nothing but maniacs going all-in every hand. There’s no risk, no strategy and no skill in the free games. So now I’m forced back into finding a local game in defiance of local laws. Here’s a suggestion for the government: get the FUCK out of my life. All you need to do is keep the infrastructure strong and our national defense solid. Otherwise, keep your retarded morality (read: how can I tax this?) out of my fucking life. Assclowns.

This entry was posted on Friday, October 20th, 2006 at 12:55am and is filed under Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.