I posted the article that one of our writers, Larry Rutherford, wrote about the internet gambling conspiracy theory to start this thread. I think its important to note in order to defend Larry that it is just a theory, maybe not actually what he believes, its just a possibility to encourage thought from all angles and to promote the idea that perhaps there are alterior motives to peoples actions, especially to people in gov’t.
It doesn’t really matter where the theory or belief came from – it is, however, important to consider the reasons why said theory or belief is likely or unlikely.
Absolutely, there are ulterior motives involved. But it is my firm, personal opinion that “conspiracy” is not likely.
This, too, makes little sense, in that legalization must encompass all forms of online gambling, not just those forms provided by existing gambling entities within the US. The AGA itself has come out firmly in support of a study to determine whether or not online gambling should be legalized, a large reversal from its stance in the early part of the decade where they were firmly against online gambling because they were ostensibly worried about “illegal, fly-by-night” operations impacting their bottom line and their huge investments.
Obviously, not only was that proven false, if anything it increased their bottom lines. Legalization would benefit them even more because the combined presence of all operations would simply enlarge the user base that might subsequently be attracted to Vegas. It would be a pretty big stretch to believe that any online operator would be strong enough to decrease the potential profits of any well-branded land-based operation entering the online market.