Great thread, we definitely need to wakeup the masses on this one.
As was previously mentioned, this legislation doesn’t say anything about the gambling establishments targeting children, so the original letter is not really relevant.
Again here is the link to the bill, as the previous one seems to be broken:
HR 4777
Also, this wasn’t previously mentioned, but you should also hit up your senator on this:
write your senator
Here is one I pulled from a well written article online. I edited it a bit so it is more suited to be sent to your representatives:
Dear (Your Reps Name Here),
On February 16, 2006, Representative Bob Goodlatte, R-Va. got tough on what he considers to be one of the most important issues facing America with HR 4777. No, it’s not al Quada or any other terror group. Nor is it the threat of nuclear war from Iran, Pakistan, or North Korea. It’s not the growing budget deficit, unstable gas prices, the war in Iraq, drug addiction or alcoholism. It is that evil goblin and the devil’s second cousin Internet gambling!
That’s right grandma and grandpa; homemakers across America; and hard-working parents and spouses everywhere, Representative Goodlatte wants to make sure you can’t play online Texas Hold ‘em, place a March Madness wager, or drop a sawbuck on the Super Bowl.
Why?
Well, it’s dangerous because it’s gambling. How long do you think gambling has been around? I’d say the over/under on it is about 1.9 million years. Presently, Internet gambling, which is a 12 billion dollar industry, and Representative Goodlatte’s crusade against it are both about to enter their second decade. The representative’s most recent introduction of a bill to prohibit Internet wagering marks his fourth attempt since 1997 to curb this pastime.
The problem with using technology such as the Internet to gamble, contends Goodlatte, is that it’s creating addicted bettors and it’s ruining the lives of innumerable teens, college students, moms, dads, and grandparents. Of course, gambling can be addictive and the Internet makes it easy to place a wager or play a hand of poker. Some people can’t stop themselves from gambling and lose more than they should, running up exorbitant debt. But the same can be said of some people who shop on the net. Goodlatte doesn’t want to prohibit anyone from using the World Wide Web to buy jewelry, high definition televisions, or clothing. Yet, people of all ages dig themselves into a deep well of debt doing just that.
Then what exactly is the problem with gambling via the Internet? Let’s say it’s the combination of gambling with technology, making it much too easy to put a five on the Washington Nationals to win the World Series. Perhaps that’s the problem.
Of course, if using technology to gamble is such a threat to the fabric of our society, Representative Goodlatte’s bill must address state lotteries too. Powerball, which each week drains millions of dollars from American’s pockets while giving them nothing in return, is easily accessed at any grocery or convenience store. There are endless tales of woe associated with people of all ages draining their bank accounts, going into debt, and stealing from their relatives to play state run lotteries.
No, Representative Goodlatte’s bill does not try to curb this type of pernicious behavior. State lotteries are apparently all right even though they have the same affect as online gambling sites and offer convenient wagering opportunities.
Does Representative Goodlatte have better judgment than any other American? He’s spent almost a decade obsessing on Internet gambling, while our country has faced and continues to face challenges that threaten our very existence. Is that sound reasoning and a good use of our tax dollars?
Somehow he and many more self-proclaimed guardians of “us” and the U.S. believe that, like children, we must be protected. They’re right; we do need to be protected—from things that really threaten our country like terrorism, violent crimes, unscrupulous oil companies, runaway health costs and dwindling energy supplies.
A major problem for Representative Goodlatte and our government is the fact that we’re losing tax dollars that could be collected from those Americans who win their bets and from foreign countries and businesses that profit from sponsoring and running the online sites. If we could figure out a way to tax these sites and their users, it’s almost certain that Internet wagering would no longer be dangerous.
Consider how our government views the People’s Republic of China. We get along fine with this repressive, brutally governed, communist country. When did this happen? It didn’t occur when China embraced democracy, because they never did. The country is still ruled by one party— the Communist Party. The People’s Republic of China became our ally when they implemented economic reforms related to free trade. American companies, entrepreneurs, and government agencies all began to benefit by doing business with this communist country. Wait, wasn’t communism a huge threat to our country? It was until we were able to do business with the Chinese. Now they’re just fine.
We’re told that all sorts of heinous activities are funded by Internet gambling, including terrorist groups, drug cartels, and major crime organizations. Of course this has never been proven; it is merely a hypothesis. Governments love to tie something they want to get rid of to something else that we fear. Weapons of mass destruction were tied to Saddam Hussein; Communism was connected to rock and roll; and sin and our society’s demise was linked to alcohol. Of course there were no weapons of mass destruction, Americans created rock and roll and eventually used it to help erode communism, and alcohol, which can be enjoyed responsibly, never did bring down our nation.
Like Internet gambling we had to be protected from them all and our government spent millions of dollars to do so. Representative Goodlatte has proposed that 40 million tax dollars be spent to wage war against offshore gambling establishments. Considering how much money our government wastes every year, 40 million dollars is not a lot of cash; but when you realize that it might be used to help kids learn to read, to make available healthcare for elderly people on fixed incomes, or to provide much needed state of the art rehabilitation facilities for wounded vets returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, that 40 million becomes a world of money, and Representative Goodlatte and his reckless spending, rather than Internet gambling sites, start to look like the real threat to the welfare of our nation.
We’ve been down this path before and not that long ago. In March 2003, Antigua and Barbuda, who are World Trade Organization (WTO) members, filed a request to consult with the United States on measures being employed by the American government to hinder the supply of cross-border gambling services. A panel was established and a year later the WTO ruled that a ban by the U.S. on cross-border Internet gambling violated international trade rules.
This year, the day after Representative Goodlatte filed his bill, Antigua issued a protest, noting that the U.S. had done nothing to adhere to the WTO ruling, which ordered our country to curtail its blocking of cross-border gaming services. The irony of the U.S. action and then its refusal to follow the WTO recommendations is that our country is claiming it is trying to ban cross-border gaming on “moral grounds.” The WTO cross-border trade agreement allows countries to use moral grounds to block services and products. The irony, of course, is that our country allows casinos, offers state supported gambling, and lets people legally wager on horse and dog racing. Taking the high moral ground on Internet gambling while encouraging all sorts of wagering within our own borders is hypocritical, asinine, and transparent.
I am strongly opposed to HR 4777 and kindly ask you to reconsider your stance on this issue as I see (edit this section)you are a co-sponsor of this legislation. I will be contacting all of my friends and relatives in regards to this issue and hope that our voices are heard.
Kind Regards,
Your Name