There are probably thousands if not millions of sites, and blogs devoted to poker in all its forms. God forbid we need any more discussions, web sites or spam related to poker, but in terms of the consumer we are witnessing a revolutionary change in the gaming market place. Internet gambling is now generating revenues in the billions, and yet the owners operate in geographical anonymity and limbo since their operations are deemed illegal in the United States... Full Story
I doubt that there has ever been such a dynamic shift in the history of gambling enterprises. The impact of this is being felt now at every level of society. Why does your co-worker want to skip lunch and sit at his PC? Could he or she be betting a full house, or bluffing for the pot at their favorite poker site? The implications for gambling addiction, and treatment are staggering as well. Stay tuned folks. The World Trade Organization has already sided with Antigua against the U.S. on fair trade policies as they pertain to the legality of Internet gaming. See how many different TV programs you can find relating to poker as you surf through your cable listings. The biggest names in Poker are having a field day while most other poker players will be sheared and fleeced. It's a national obsession at the moment, and the celebrity factor is huge as well with prominent movie stars like Ben Affleck and Toby Maguire playing high stakes games. It may be just a matter of time before we have legalized Virtual Vegas accessible at any computer station. Will the games be honest then, and are they honest now? Of greater concern will be the money, and time wasted by those who might spend too many hours gambling online thereby creating heart break for themselves and their families. What do you think of this tremendous, and growing appetite for online gambling? Are criminal elements involved in these enterprises? Will gambling addiction spread like wildfire especially among internet savvy youth? No matter what the answers are to these questions it is very likely that within a few years there will be legal online gaming for both the operators and the players. See the Congressional testimony on Internet gambling by Tom W. Bell. Let Seasons Under The Sun hear your opinions on this subject.
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Poker, Internet Gambling, gambling, texas holdem
6 comments:
woof woof.
All in good fun cairo, but I would like some serious comments too :-).
Gambling is like prostitution, our good thinking people make it illegal because they consider it immoral yet so often the very people who fight so hard against making it legal are the most involved participants in the act.
I do not think that making something illegal has the desired result, it just becomes more intoxicating.
Leaving morality out of it, I think that both legal, and illegal gambling enterprises pose some problems for society, but certainly if gambling is legal I support the individuals right to participate in it. However the legality "cat" is already out of the bag, and with so many wide spread forms of legalized gambling available one could argue that internet gambling should follow suit. I agree that prohibition would probably not have the desired result when it comes to internet gambling, and perhaps with legalization it could be better regulated to keep scammers out, and maintain the integrity of the games. Organized crime finds many ways to make money out of gambling enterprises whether they are illegal, or not, so it is difficult to use the criminal element factor on either side of the debate. Thanks travel italy for the comment.
Everyone gambles, playing the stock market, investing in TBills, starting a company, changing jobs, getting married. In all cases we are betting that the future will be better if we do something different.
Problems arise when the risk factor becomes very high and when something is illegal the risk factor increases for numerous reasons.
I think you summed it up nicely travel italy. Everyone has to take risks in order to survive and thrive, but hopefully those risks somehow relate to the rest of our lives in a healthy way. To me there is a big difference in taking a calculated risk, and working hard to start a business as compared to spending day after day at a craps table in isolation, with no chance of overcoming the negative expectation of the game.
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