An Epiphany - (Thought, Debate, Discussion)

[CardCuda]

Festus22 posted an interesting topic a few days ago "Where is all this money coming from". Got me to thinking and this thought came up.

Why doesn't our government (US) start their own poker site? Government ran and "legal" for all US and abroad players. The money could be used to pay the national debt, education, etc.... Seems they are fighting pretty hard to bitch and complain "where's our cut" (IRS), national security (Terrorist funding), Illegal gambling, banning advertising...blah, blah, blah...I could go on.....but it seems they're missing "the bigger picture" 51 million or so poker players???? Sheesh.

Seems to me if they were smart (forgive me), they would start the biggest, most sophisticated, "legal", internet poker site, monitored and ran by the best technicians, servers, software available. The safest, most secure transactions...and not to mention create jobs!

The downside is "maybe" Party, Paradise and others go belly up (doubt it). I think Hundreds and thousands of poker players, (and non-poker players) would play. And yes many "officials" and "respected" authorities would catch "flak" but that's the point they catch "flak" anyway /images/graemlins/tongue.gif

They have the records of who wins the money (probably take their cut right from the pay-out), who transfers the money, and they'd MAKE MONEY - Wow what a concept....

I dunno just a thought I had...Rather than the Gov't always bucking the populace why don't they buck up and jump on-board...They have to have some "braniac-genius" up there that has thought of this? No?

[Patrick del Poker Grande]

They'd run a national Powerball lottery before anything approaching this level of complexity. More than that, you'd hear all kinds of screams of Big Brother type paranoia with this sort of database and how much of the people's money it'd be holding at any given time.

[BreakEvenPlayer]

No politician will ever openly support gambling. And Washington Republicans would be totally against anything like this, as they would like to ban internet gambling altogether as they think it degrades our society.

[cardcounter0]

Why doesn't the Government just sell every one Heroin?
Once a junkie is hooked, they will give their last dollar for another fix.
Then the Government would never have to worry about not having enough money.

[ZeeJustin]

[ QUOTE ]
Why doesn't the Government just sell every one Heroin?
Once a junkie is hooked, they will give their last dollar for another fix.
Then the Government would never have to worry about not having enough money.

[/ QUOTE ]

CardCounter gets +7 points for having the correct response.

[krazyace5]

Didn't they already try that once?

[t_perkin]

[ QUOTE ]

Seems to me if they were smart (forgive me), they would start the biggest, most sophisticated, "legal", internet poker site, monitored and ran by the best technicians, servers, software available. The safest, most secure transactions...and not to mention create jobs!


[/ QUOTE ]

The poker rooms make quite so much money because they don't bother paying for this stuff when they know that we will all play anyway. At the moment it is a sellers market.

Tim

[daveymck]

Its almost the way the UK is going to go, not Governement sponsered but Internet Gambling and gambling generally is going to be more relaxed here and they are going to make online legal with people going to be ale to become officially registered and recognised.

I have said this before but this probably goign to mean names like Ladbrokes and William Hill coming to the forefront, contary to popular opinion on here in the UK these are trusted brands, if they get a licence I do think they could goto the forefront of the online ladder.

The UK seems to be thinking get the internet sites licensed here and get the money and jobs coming to the UK as well as in essence promoting Las Vegas type casinos around the country.

In many ways although casinos are more back street gambling plays a big part in British life, there are Ladbrokes and William Hill and other betting shops in most high streets and a lot of small type slot machine places as well as some big bingo halls etc.

I beleive if the UK licences a online poker site it will give people a lot of confodance in that site worldwide and will grow.

The legislation is going through Parliment but it may well take another year or so to get through to law.

[Senor Choppy]

The government would never do something like this, because, instead, they basically outsource gambling to other companies. They get paid by taxing the casinos, but the end result is the same, they're in the business of gambling.

Asking why the government doesn't make it legal solely to tax it is a good question.

[Patrick del Poker Grande]

[ QUOTE ]
The government would never do something like this, because, instead, they basically outsource gambling to other companies. They get paid by taxing the casinos, but the end result is the same, they're in the business of gambling.

Asking why the government doesn't make it legal solely to tax it is a good question.

[/ QUOTE ]
The problem would be that American sites wouldn't be able to compete because they'd be the only ones that are getting taxed. They wouldn't be able to give the same bonus offers or they'd have to rake more or something to make up for it. Everyone would go play at the better offshore sites that have less overhead (for bonuses, advertisement, etc). It'd be impossible for the US government to tax the offshore sites.

[CardCuda]

cardcounter -

An intelligent and well thought out reply, that leads me to the following conclusions -

A) You must work for the Gov't. (If not - you should pick up an application. I'm sure they'll put you at the front of the line).

B) Your using too much of the product of which you speak. (Not to worry I have an instant solution - It's called Narcan, then when you get pissed that I "ruined your high", it's followed by Versed, Anectine and Norcuron.)

C) - Do you play poker? If you do - you classify or relate it to a pandemic disease infesting this country (and many others) heroin? Truly sad and truly pathetic.

Poker's popularity is simple, "cards" have been played in households, bars, "saloons" etc. throughout history. Hell my grandmother plays Cribbage Tournaments around the Northwest and there's thousands of players, and nice pay-outs, Is crib illegal?

Politicians, Grandma's, Grandpa's, Attorneys, Judges etc...etc...and you relate it to an addiction? There will always be the 10% (minority) that tarnishes, cheats, and to sum it up basically make "anything" look bad. And that's just the way it is - Drink too much and it's proven to be a killer, but a drink a day is proven to be healthy (Hear that one before?). There are countless other examples....

Bottom line = I guess you'll always be in the 10%.

[Wayne]

[ QUOTE ]

Why doesn't our government (US) start their own poker site? Government ran and "legal" for all US and abroad players. The money could be used to pay the national debt, education, etc....


[/ QUOTE ]

Maybe we could have government run whore houses too?

[CardCuda]

Would the White House be included? Have an Intern Program?

[Senor Choppy]

The American sites would be at a disadvantage to some degree, but it would be better for them than the situation as it stands today.

Also, if I wanted to play online blackjack, I'd certainly trust Harrah's or whoever about 1 billion times more than SuperTerrificLuckyWins.com and whoever else I get spam from. And if I was looking for poker, bellagio.com sounds a lot safer than where I play.

Along with name recognition, they'd also have a giant stamp of approval on their website, saying they're regulated by whatever gaming commmission would regulate this sort of thing, one that's based in the US and you can trust to verify things like the RNG and their overall liquidity.

[Slacker13]

[ QUOTE ]
Maybe we could have government run whore houses too?

[/ QUOTE ]
Umm, they did. When the gov't siezed the Mustang Ranch for tax evasion their only way to get paid was to keep the place operational, which they did until they finally sold it at auction.
Next...

[CORed]

I doubt the U. S. federal government could run a good poker site. However, I would ceratainly support allowing the private sector to run regulated, taxed (within reason) poker sites within the U. S.

[CORed]

I think you're right. The foreign competition would keep the government from taxing the sites too heavily, which, IMO is a good thing. I wouldn't want to see poker sites run like state lotteries, where typically half the price of a ticket goes to the state. A poker game with a %50 rake? No thank you, but without competition, that's what we could end up with, and there are definitely people dumb enough to play if there's no better alternative.

[CORed]

I, for one would support legal, regulated, taxed sale of drugs (much like alcohol is currently handled) to the current insanity of devoting nearly half of our law enforcement effort and budget to trying to protect people from their own stupidity.

[CardCuda]

Excellent point,

Government ran was a bad thought. /images/graemlins/tongue.gif

One thing that has my curiosity though is MSN games, "the Zone". Have you seen or played these? I haven't but have MSN as my homepage and noticed that you can play Bejeweled, or bespelled, solitaire etc...for cash????? I don't understand that? Games for money over the internet, can't be. Haven't dug into it too deep but where are they based, how do they make they're transactions? It's Microsoft software. Hmmmm....

Nevermind found the answer = "The maximum amount returned, if any, will not exceed the total amount of deposits" according to their terms and conditions.

But still cash games over the internet? Thought that was illegal??? You can still lose the money just can't withdraw more than deposited? Whew...that's not good.

[Patrick del Poker Grande]

[ QUOTE ]
Excellent point,

Government ran was a bad thought. /images/graemlins/tongue.gif

One thing that has my curiosity though is MSN games, "the Zone". Have you seen or played these? I haven't but have MSN as my homepage and noticed that you can play Bejeweled, or bespelled, solitaire etc...for cash????? I don't understand that? Games for money over the internet, can't be. Haven't dug into it too deep but where are they based, how do they make they're transactions? It's Microsoft software. Hmmmm....

Nevermind found the answer = "The maximum amount returned, if any, will not exceed the total amount of deposits" according to their terms and conditions.

But still cash games over the internet? Thought that was illegal??? You can still lose the money just can't withdraw more than deposited? Whew...that's not good.

[/ QUOTE ]
I guess in this instance, you're paying to play / use their service, which isn't by any means illegal (porn, i-tunes, online brokerages, delivery services, web/image hosting). They're just giving you a rebate. When you play poker, the intention is gambling (or 'gaming') and to make money (it'd be hard to argue online poker as a socially motivated game).

[LikesToLose]

[ QUOTE ]
The problem would be that American sites wouldn't be able to compete because they'd be the only ones that are getting taxed. They wouldn't be able to give the same bonus offers or they'd have to rake more or something to make up for it. Everyone would go play at the better offshore sites that have less overhead (for bonuses, advertisement, etc). It'd be impossible for the US government to tax the offshore sites

[/ QUOTE ]

Bonuses and advertisements and any other offers would be expenses. These are removed from profit before the tax is applied. There is still a lower profit per $1 raked since the ROI would decrease, but it would not influnce advertisement spending nearly as much as you might think.

I think the perceived reliability and ability to advertise freely in the US would put US based poker sites on top in very short order. US citizens would overwhelmingly prefer to play there and the rest of the world would want to come on board to take advantage of the typical, stupid American.

[MaxPower]

The government would not offer a good gamble. Of all the types of legal gambling the one with the biggest house advantage is the lottery, which is run by the government.

In the pre-lottery days, organized crime used to "run numbers" and it was probably a lot better deal for the gambler.

If it were a poker site, they would rake it so heavily that it would impossible to win.

[Louie Landale]

The government cannot run a business. That's what "business" is for.

[Patrick del Poker Grande]

[ QUOTE ]
The government cannot run a business. That's what "business" is for.

[/ QUOTE ]
All comments on the effectiveness of their operations aside, the USPS, AmTrack, and the Tennessee Valley Authority are all government corporations (excuse me if I used the wrong terminology).

[Louie Landale]

Great examples of terribly run businesses. If the USPS didn't have a legal monopoly on PO boxes and 1st class mail it would be out of business. All other parcel services do better, faster, and cheaper than the USPS. AMTRAK loses about $350 per passenger on its Western routes. Some short rail lines (NY-Boston) just about break even; all others lose money. TVA may be close but its tough to compare when there are no private companies to compare it to.

If food stamps were administered by competitive private businesses a LOT more than the current 33% of the funds would make it to the clients (yup, the spend 2/3 of it in administration).

- Louie