New Jersey Governor Vetoes Online Gambling Bill Even Though They Need the Tax Money

When people gamble online are they really playing a person or are they playing a machine, or AI – artificially intelligent program, one which is designed to beat them, but not so badly they quit and never come back? Not long ago, I was discussing this with an acquaintance, who indicated to me that they were “not against gambling online, because if people wanted to give away their money so be it,” but they themselves never would.

Of course, online gambling has also trapped many an addicted gambler, who over time loses all their hard-earned money, yes it is an addiction which preys upon real human emotion and captures the psyche of the obsessive compulsive individual. But should gambling online be free choice, just as it is when one walks into a casino? Well, those who have online gambling websites think so, but there is a bit of politics involved, with interests on both sides.

In fact, there was a great article on Online Gambling Pro, titled “Online Gambling Bill Vetoed in New Jersey” by Gary posted on March 3, 2011. The article talked about how the New Jersey Governor said “no” to online gambling. This was good for the Atlantic City Casinos, and collecting taxes for online gambling would have proved quite problematic, not to mention a somewhat unfair advantage for real casinos with all their licensing requirements.

Nevertheless, folks in the US will continue to gamble online, even if it is illegal, they will find a way, even if they go through a website hosted offshore. Some say, and I am not one of them, but some believe that people who play online learn to play well, and eventually come into the casino thus, it actually helps the legal gambling industry. There may be some empirical evidence to prove that assertion someday, however, I will remain a skeptic until I see it personally.

Considering that most politicians will eventually cave into almost anything as long as they can tax it, it is interesting that online gambling has not made headway in the legalization process, perhaps it will in the future, but right now it is still taboo. There is too much fraud say authorities which is a charge that does have merit. And it is also suspected that there are unscrupulous individuals running these websites behind digital masks.

Well, those are just some of the issues, and there are many more challenges to be solved before online gambling legalization will be available in all 50 US states. It seems many states such as; Iowa, California, and Florida appear to have legislation in the works right now. Many other states are drafting bills to introduce too, and there is a fairly big lobbying effort surrounding these pushes for online gambling, as well as lobbying to prevent it from various concerned citizen groups and established casinos. Please consider all this.

Additional Recommended Reading:

1.-Wall Street Journal Article; “Nevada Considers Legalizing Web Poker” by Alexandra Berzon, March 11, 2011.

Lance Winslow is the Founder of the Online Think Tank, a

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