Press release: 60 minutes doing report on internet gambling

[krazyace5]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
he gained access to a gaming website and quickly lost $100 playing roulette. Some sites rejected him, however, including one owned by Paynes company .

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm sorry, but if an underaged person gains access to their parents credit card details (parent's fault), I don't see how any company can necessarily prevent this from happening. Does anyone else think that was a shameless plug for "Payne's" company?

[/ QUOTE ]

What if the kid gets his parents credit card and charges up hundreds of dollars in clothes at abercrombie and fitch? Guess they better ban e-commerce too.

The credit card issue is a ridiculous arguement.

[MicroBob]

yes. that was my thought too...except I was thinking about what if he used the CC# to buy a bunch of jewelry or rare baseball-cards or a classic motorcycle or whatever on e-bay or cars.com or wherever else.


or what if he got a hold of their parents account information and started making crazy trades on e-trade or ameritrade or schwab or wherever?



Yup....kids can actually steal their parents credit-card numbers or passwords to other sites.
I don't think it's the fault of the online-poker world or the online stock-trading places to patrol that.


Perhaps the parents should consider taking steps to keep such info from their kids??
Nah. That's just crazy talk.

[mex78753]

This would be good for winning poker players. But to compare online poker to buying lottery tickets and casino gambling is a mistake. It's not the same and it's not even close.

When someone has to drive 4 hours to a casino and drops 100's or even 1000's of dollars on games, they're going to feel [censored] and probably not come back for a long time.

But when people have the access to wager thousands of dollars at the click of a button without feeling the pain of actually handing someone out cash, it's completely different and much more dangerous.

Sure the sharks would feast but this would be very dangerous to our society and economy.

Be careful what you wish for.

[blackize]

[ QUOTE ]
When someone has to drive 4 hours to a casino and drops 100's or even 1000's of dollars on games, they're going to feel [censored] and probably not come back for a long time.

[/ QUOTE ]

This isn't true. They probably won't even remember losing their 1000's as vividly as they do the good time they had. In fact they will probably chalk their losses up to bad luck like most fish do.

[ QUOTE ]
But when people have the access to wager thousands of dollars at the click of a button without feeling the pain of actually handing someone out cash, it's completely different and much more dangerous.

[/ QUOTE ]

So you want to regulate what people can and can't spend their money on? Frankly if you are stupid enough to lose thousands of dollars playing games of chance or games of skill you don't deserve to have that money. I mean does the guy who bet his life savings on black on the roulette wheel really need to be saved from himself? What about the guy playing poker too high for his bankroll? These people made mistakes and deserve the consequences of them.

[Zetack]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
The last thing the world needs is the U.S. govt in the game of online poker.

[/ QUOTE ]

[/ QUOTE ]

I would welcome it if they would simultaneously fix the way they tax poker winnings and made it your net profit. The way they do it now is incredibly fooked up for a recreational and/or small stakes winning player.

Zetack

Vote for Democrats next election so that online gamblers are no longer held captive by right-wing Christian nutjobs.

[CORed]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
"Its so easy to do. Its so easy for kids to do. Its so addictive," says Kyl, whos pushing a bill that would prohibit U.S. banks and credit card companies from handling any online betting transactions.

[/ QUOTE ]

This would be a disaster. I don't see casual fish sending money orders to Gibralter to play poker [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

Not necessarily. The fish probably won't have to send money orders. They will just have to use Netteller, Firepay, etc. I don't really think they can stop banks from transferring money to third party non-US companies like Netteller, etc. They can only stop them from transferring directly to gambling sites. Beside. Kyl has been introducing these bills for years, and they never get anywhere.

[Greg J]

[ QUOTE ]
But when people have the access to wager thousands of dollars at the click of a button without feeling the pain of actually handing someone out cash, it's completely different and much more dangerous.

[/ QUOTE ]
I don't agree with this logic at all. You could make the same argument about casino chips. When people are wagering tokens that they bought it does not strike the same psychological chord as handing out cash money. I think most people know what they are doing when they click the mouse saying "bet $5" or whatever. Hell they even get to read what they are doing!

[ QUOTE ]
Sure the sharks would feast but this would be very dangerous to our society and economy.

[/ QUOTE ]

I do understand potential negative consequences for society and economy, and they have logical and and defensible arguments (many of which I don't agree with fwiw). The thing about regulating human behavior is that it does not work all that well most of the time. Prohibition and the current "war on drugs" are fine examples. Online gambling will probably not ruin our society -- European countries are still doing okay last time I checked.

[mex78753]

At this stage I dont think online gambling can ruin our society. But if it gets too easy to gamble online then there will be potential for a noticable impact on our economy/society.

I think many here are biased because they make a living playing poker (Including me). But trust me, if the average person didnt have to set up firepay/neteller/paypal accounts where they have to wait days for bank account information to be verified, then too many peoples financial futures would be at risk.

Saying something stupid like "if a man bets his whole life savings on black in roulette doesnt it mean he didnt deserve the money in the 1st place" does not justify that peoples lives could be potentially destroyed by online gambling.

[Wynton]

Just want to add that I posted this because I think that the 60 Minutes report is basically a good thing (of course, I say that without knowing what they'll say). I've been surprised that there have not been more hard news stories about internet gambling. And my view is that the more information the better, and the less likely some wacko legislator will be able to push through some ridiculous legislation without anyone noticing.