Online casino legalization
In a USA Today story about Jim McDermott’s new bill proposing the taxation and regulation of online gambling to raise revenue for the development of human resources, the newspaper ran a poll online to determine public views.
The question asked was : Is it time to legalize online gambling?
As always with polls, the posing of the question becomes as important as the answer; many polls achieve desired results by slanting the question in a certain way. For instance, if Focus on the Family (a group whose very name gives them a misleading identification and power; a truer name would be Small-Minded Religious Fanatics) had asked this question, it might take the form of: Should we legalize online gambling and condemn our children to hell?
Still, USA Today was able to put the inquiry into a simple, neutral form. And the early response is overwhelming; 97% of respondents said yes. If this were a public election, all the news channels would be conceding victory to the pro-regulation forces, with only one percent of the vote counted.
It is important to recognize that the winning side is referred to as “pro-regulation” rather than “pro-legalization”. This is due to the acceptance that, regardless of law, online casinos will still do business with American citizens.
Those in favor of the McDermott and Frank bills are not fans of unregulated, uncontrolled gambling, but they realize that that is the current state. Online gambling is a fait accompli, a Pandora’s box that all Spencer Bachus’ s men can’t shut.
Sherman Bradley, senior gaming analyst at Online Casino Advisory, says the only way to deal with the problems raised by online gambling is to regulate the industry. “All the money spent to try to ban online casinos is money poured down the drain. On the other hand, issues over minors, problem gambling, and honest play are all easily addressed through licensing and regulation.’
According to the results at USA Today, the public is almost unanimous in agreement.
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