Legalized gambling also makes it a lot easier for the online gambling industry to make a profit. Statistics portal Statista stated that the size of the global online gambling market had reached.
Why Gambling Is Wrong
In 2006 Congress passed, and President George W. Bush signed, legislation to stop the spread of Internet gambling. At the time, no one was sure whether a law could deter shady offshore operators. But by targeting the money flows and banks that facilitated these businesses, the law worked far better than most people imagined. Until now, that is.
The doors to the virtual casino are reopening, this time with the gambling sites based here in the USA, thanks to a 2011 Justice Department finding that earlier bans applied only to sports betting.
Thursday, New Jersey begins a five-day trial run of Internet gambling, with a full launch scheduled for next Tuesday. Existing Atlantic City casinos will be licensed to offer electronic versions of all casino games online to people within the borders of the Garden State.
Delaware has already begun online gaming, and Nevada has it for poker only. From there, who knows where it will go? Gambling tends to spread fast, fueled by state governments desperate for new revenue or desperate to protect existing revenue streams.
With legal gambling headed for an electronic device near you, it's time for Congress to rise above its current dysfunction and pull the plug. The only thing lawmakers have to do is clarify that the 2006 law, and a 1961 law from which it drew, apply to all forms of online gaming.
That cause is receiving support from an unlikely source: Las Vegas Sands CEO (and Republican superdonor) Sheldon Adelson, who plans to launch an anti-Internet gambling lobby next month. The rest of the gaming industry, aided by an activist community of poker players, will likely mount a furious counterattack.
The nation has enough social pathologies to worry about without unleashing a new form of domestic gambling that is all but impossible to police or keep contained in one place. People with addictive personalities would either have to give up their smartphones, tablets and computers, or have a casino at arms reach 24/7.
Whatever one might think of brick-and-mortar casinos, they do some things right. They are pretty good at checking IDs to keep minors out. And they at least require people to get dressed and into a vehicle if they want to gamble.
Internet gambling advocates say they have screening programs designed to keep minors out, and geolocation software designed to limit play to people physically located within a particular jurisdiction.
Does anyone seriously think that these firewalls wouldn't be circumvented?
The FBI doesn't. It told a House committee in 2009 that age verification programs were easily beaten because they generally relied on credit card numbers, easily purchased on the black market.
Parents worried that their kids off at college will fritter away time and money on Internet gambling will be at the mercy of casinos' technological solutions. States like Utah can only hope that technology will prevent its strict anti-gambling laws from being undermined.
For everyone but the casinos and a smattering of skilled poker players, online gambling is a very bad bet.
USA TODAY's editorial opinions are decided by its Editorial Board, separate from the news staff. Most editorials are coupled with an opposing view — a unique USA TODAY feature.
The wagering of money, known as gambling has been around for thousands of years and is common all over the world. Each year two thirds of the adult population will make a bet. Also thirty billion dollars are made in casinos and another seventeen billion comes from state lotteries. Gambling is a good thing for today’s society for several reasons.
First, gambling improves the economy. Only two decades ago two states had legal gambling; now forty-eight states have some form of legal gambling so it is obviously bringing in money for these states or it would not have been legalized that quickly. In 2006 over five billion dollars was made from state and local taxes. This means that the taxes from gambling contributed a lot to the economy. In areas where a casino has been put in there has been an improvement in the local schools due to the increase in funds caused by gambling taxes. Also roadways and other programs have benefitted from gambling in their area.
Next, having casinos in an area produces tons of jobs. In the United States alone over 350,000 jobs have been created by casinos. This helps families as well as the government because they don’t have to take care of those people who work at casinos. There are over 1,500 casinos across America giving the opportunity to many people for employment. This will also help a city by increasing the population and therefore improving the economy.
People may say that gambling is a bad thing, because some people get addicted to gambling and lose their money, but it is better to be addicted to a game than something like drugs or alcohol. In the United States there are 15 million Americans addicted to gambling and 23 million addicted to drugs or alcohol so the problem of people being addicted to gambling is not as bad as it may look. Also there is a simple cure to gambling and that is to just stop going to casinos in most cases. Drugs have harmful effects and are much harder to break that addiction.
Last, gambling is a way for people to enjoy themselves and is becoming a popular form of tourism. In 1996 twenty-nine million people visited Las Vegas and 38 percent of Americans will go to Las Vegas in their lifetime. People go on vacations to places like Las Vegas or Reno Nevada, which are two major cities for gambling, to go have fun in casinos and gamble for fun. This is also very good for cities like these to make money. In 2006 in the U.S. 450 casinos made about 34 billion dollars. Gambling is a good thing for tourism and lots of people enjoy it.
Gambling is a positive thing because it improves the economy by bringing in lots of tax dollars that can be used to help communities. It is a fun way for people to spend their time if they do it in a responsible manner. Gambling has been legal in Nevada since 1931 and has grown tenfold from 1975 until now, which means it is a growing form of income that helps the economy and tons of communities.
Bibliography
Stewart, Gail B. Gambling. San Diego, CA: Lucent, 2001. Print.
PBS. PBS. Web. 01 Mar. 2012. <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/gamble/etc/facts.html>.
'Gambling Facts and Statistics.' Overcoming Gambling Website for Gambling Addicitons. Web. 01 Mar. 2012. <http://www.overcominggambling.com/facts.html>.
'History of Gambling in the United States.' California State Library. Web. 01 Mar. 2012. <http://www.library.ca.gov/crb/97/03/Chapt2.html>.