Sports Betting News

Dear Representative _____________,

I am writing to you today regarding HR 4777, relating to banning online gambling, set forth by Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), and Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA). I would like to take this opportunity to register my opposition to the bill, and to speak to what I believe to be it's senselessness and the needless damage to our communities it's passage will cause.  

I think that it is instructive to look to an historical analogy to better understand this current situation.   In the early part of the last century, thanks largely to arguments like the following, that liquor was responsible for " annually sending thousands of our youths to destruction, for corrupting politics, dissipating workmen's wages, leading astray 60,000 girls each year into lives of immorality and banishing children from school," the American Government passed legislation that made the purchase and sale of alcohol illegal.   What ensued was a protracted battle between the will of the public and the rule of law.   Ultimately, the will of the public won and Prohibition was struck down. Should online gambling be banned now, I believe a similar situation will occur.

In his rationale for the bill, Goodlatte argues that "The Internet Gambling Prohibition Act is vital to protect our children and communities from the problems of addiction, crime, bankruptcy and family difficulties that come from gambling."    This sounds hauntingly familiar to Prohibition's cry to save the children.   But somehow, this argument ignores the fact that gambling is legal and regulated in several cities and/or states, including Detroit.    Additionally, it fails to take into account the fact that online casinos/sports books/poker rooms have systems in place to verify age as well as to police compulsive behavior. Lastly and most sadly, it fails to understand that humans gamble, just as they drink, and to prohibit that gambling will force it out of the realm of legislation and public scrutiny where it's dangers can be policed, to a realm where rules are ignored and dangers go unnoticed.

While banning gambling will have damaging effects on the psyche of our communities, it will also have a negative effect on Federal and State revenues that bring needed dollars to those communities.   Proponents of gambling, online and otherwise, understand the benefits that casino revenues can bring to undernourished and underdeveloped communities, whether these communities are located on- or offshore.

In the past, Goodlatte's attempts to prohibit online gambling have made it to a defeating vote only after careful amending to remove any harmful effects it might have on state lotteries, horse racing, Native American gaming, and land-based casinos, that bring important revenues to public schools, struggling communities, and tribes.   What makes online gambling such an easy target for prohibitive legislation today is that the companies profiting from the transactions are based off shore in countries where gaming is legal and regulated like Costa Rica and Antigua.  

What a boon to our economy regulating and taxing this multi-billion dollar industry would be, and what a loss we will suffer if this legislation is passed.   Taxing the online transactions of U.S. online bettors would bring millions of dollars annually to the communities those bettors live in.   As it is, that revenue is currently lost.   As Rep. Goodlatte would have it, that revenue would be lost forever.

The passage of HR 4777 threatens our Nation's wellbeing both socially and fiscally, and for that reason I respectfully ask that you think carefully before voting on it.   Again, I ask you to consider online gambling in light of the history of our country's liquor sales.   How were our communities harmed by prohibition?   Is the harm of liquor's current legality outweighed by its benefits?   And finally, is the fiscal benefit to our state and federal governments outweighed by the dangers liquor poses to the populace?   These answers to these questions shed light on the same questions that must be asked of online gambling.  

finally, while the arguments above are general and public, I'm also writing because I truly enjoy betting on football games. Therefore in closing, I'd like to thank you for your time and your consideration, Representative ________________, not only as a citizen but also as someone whose life is enriched by online gaming.

Sincerely,

______________________________