BrianGarst.com

Congress Passes Internet Gambling Prohibition

Congress dealt a massive blow to U.S. Internet gamblers over the weekend when it passed legislation forcing U.S. banks and credit card companies to block electronic transactions to Internet gambling businesses late Friday night.

Online gaming giants PartyPoker and 888 will suspend business with U.S.-based customers when President Bush signs the bill. And more sites are expected to follow suit. PartyPoker, which earned $859.1 million in 2005, says they will change their focus to the non-U.S. market.

. . .Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) attached the measure to the Safe Port Act Conference Report. The bill also prohibits the use of checks to fund Internet gambling accounts.

“Gambling is a serious addiction that undermines the family, dashes dreams, and frays the fabric of society,” said Frist in a statement after the bill passed in the Senate. “Congress has grappled with this issue for 10 years, and during that time we’ve watched this shadow industry explode. For me as majority leader, the bottom line is simple: Internet gambling is illegal. Although we can’t monitor every online gambler or regulate offshore gambling, we can police the financial institutions that disregard our laws.”

It’s not enough simply to oppose liberal efforts to protect the people from themselves when you disagree with the action itself. True principle requires small government advocates to recognize that you shouldn’t use government to protect people from themselves even in those cases where you think such protection is beneficial. No, especially in those case. Otherwise you are no different than the liberals, using government to force people to behave only in those ways they find acceptable.

True freedom allows people to make their own choices. Conservatives routinely say people should be free to spend their own money when they are advocating tax cuts, now it’s time to put our policy where our mouth is. Let people spend their money how they please.