Let's chat a minute about on line gambling. I gamble on line regularly. It is not illegal at a federal level or in the state in which I live. The recent law that was passed makes it illegal for US banks to deal directly with gaming companies of any sort. It does NOT criminalize making wagers, or playing poker on line.

So to combat this, there are companies similar to PayPal that are offshore, so they do not have to comply with any US laws. So basically, you give your money to them, then send the money from that, into your sports betting account. Is this illegal? Absolutely not. Is this "workaround" equivalent to money laundering? That is a gray area I suppose, but it is not illegal.

I noticed that a lot of these "middle man" companies are pulling out of the US market, and no longer working with any US customers. So today I funded my account directly from my Visa Check Card that is tied to my bank account. How is this possible? It would appear that the most recent methodology of a workaround is through the purchase of VOIP phone minutes. Essentially, you use your credit card to purchase minutes of voice over IP phone technology, and then you trade the value of these minutes with the gaming company. The gaming company handles everything, so all the customer sees is... put in credit card number, get money in the betting account.

So to sum up, the law has really done nothing to combat on line gambling, it only complicates business for the companies involved, and penalizes banks for doing now illegal business.

At the root of all this is that the government is, in a way, controlling what you do with your money. I suppose you could compare this to drugs, the government makes drugs illegal, so spending your money on drugs is illegal. The difference is that there is no law criminalizing on line gambling.

Now, here is the problem I see. I have talked to literally hundreds of people about this subject both in person, and through various forums and whatnot, and no one, NOT A SINGLE, SOLITARY PERSON agrees with what the government is doing. The government already has their cut since my money is already taxes before it hits my bank account from my employer. Additionally, it is perfectly OK for me to walk to Las Vegas, and take that same exact money out of my pocket, and make the same exact sports wager. The same applies to going to Antigua or some other offshore island and making a wager directly with the gaming company. The government says these things are NOT illegal. So if it is not illegal to bet this way, and I cannot find anyone that approves of what the government has done, why in the hell did someone even invent this law? Who is sitting around coming up with this shit? I am about 110% certain that there are far more important issues for our government to deal with than this. It is extraordinarily hard to find a person in this country who likes the government and thinks they are doing a good job, other than government employees. How long is it going to be until the people rise up and do something about it?

If this is one of those things where the government wants more money, well there is tax form for reporting gambling income, and it basically works on the honor system, just like reporting income from tips or other untraceable income.

It is my money, and so long as I am not doing anything illegal with it, there should not be a problem, and no one can disagree with that.


***if some of these thoughts seem out of order or disconnected, it is because I am still slighty ill, and on medication and beer, not because I am stupid.