Goodlatte and the rest of the zealous congressmen attacking online gaming are hypocrites of the highest sort. Goodlatte represents the state of virginia which has had it’s own lottery since 1988. Look here to see the sales and earnings his state has gathered from it http://www.valottery.com/money/ .
Those of you not familiar with US lotteries need to understand that the majority of the people buying lottery tickets are the lowest income levels, many on food stamps and the ones with the least amount of disposable income and the lowest education.
Compare that to online gambling where the player has to have a level of income to own a computer, have internet capabilities and the knowledge to do both. In addition the means to fund an internet wallet is no easy thing, not as easy as pulling out a dollar or ten to buy a lottery ticket rather than buying decent food for your family.
The sad part of this is, because of the fanatics, and there are only a handful, they push this onto a busy congressional agenda every year. Many of the congressmen and woman simply go along with it because it is politically easier to say I am against online gambling and all the evils that come with it rather than stand up and say, this is what the people want. I am worried that because of the mess left over by Jack Abramoff making our industry look bad and having a knee jerk reaction to punish the gaming industry. Lets hope not.
Brian