Prohibition Doesn't Work for Online Gambling

June 19, 2010 | Article Category: Gaming Law

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The United States tried Prohibition in the 1930s, and it was a dismal failure. Trying to make the drinking of alcoholic beverages illegal simply caused those who wished to drink to go underground, and do their drinking on the quiet.

In a similar way, the US is now trying to make online gambling illegal. Although online gambling itself has not explicitly been branded as illegal, processing financial transactions for online gambling sites is now illegal. This has only recently been put into effect, since the UIGEA was implemented at the beginning of June 2010. The UIGEA (Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act,) which makes processing financial transactions for online gambling illegal does not, however, make all online gambling transactions problematic since online lottery ticket sales and some horse racing betting is considered legal.

In the Untied States, where freedom of choice is rated so highly, it makes no sense that the government would try to take away the rights of the people by, in effect, making online gambling illegal. One could understand the issue a bit better if land-based gambling was also being treated in the same way. However, it seems that online gambling has been singled out for the latest in "Prohibition."

Although many online gambling operators pulled out of the United States when the UIGEA was passed, there were those that stayed. Now that the UIGEA has been implemented, the legality of online casinos is somewhat confusing. However, instead of refusing to accept players from the US, these online casinos have simply tried to find new methods by which players can deposit and withdraw funds. Although these online casinos and other online gambling sites have not exactly gone underground, unless something is done to regulate the industry soon, they certainly could be heading that way.

When someone tells a small child "Do not play with that toy!" and they do not offer a good reason, or perhaps tell them that they can play with the toy if they follow certain guidelines, the child will obviously want to play with the toy. Even if the child agrees not to play with the toy, the desire is still there. Since human nature does not really change that much as we get older, as adults, we react in the same way when someone says "No!" especially if it is for no apparently good reason.

Those who have chosen, as mature adults, to gamble online, should be given the freedom of choice to play or not to play. The most responsible and honorable thing that the US government could do would be to regulate the industry, and tax it so that the tax income can be used for good, instead of ending up in the pockets of those in other countries.