At 12:12 PM -0500 5/27/97, William H. Geiger III wrote:
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (May 25, 1997 00:31 a.m. EDT) -- A Missouri judge on Friday banned an Internet gambling company from operating in the state.
This comes as no suprise to anyone who was in KCMO durring the fight over riverboat gambling.
The politions there have sold their souls to the big cassinos for the prommise of tax dollars that they could then use to buy votes.
They now see Internet Gaming as a threat to their revenue stream (both riverboat cassinos & state sponsored numbers racket).
Also no surprise here in California, where gambling is a crime--unless the State of California runs the gambling operation. E.g., the Lottery system. (Actually, there are a few exceptions to this state monopoly on gambling. Indian reservations have the right, though this right is being challenged up and down the state, to run certain types of casinos. And "card clubs" are permitted, under certain conditions.) To paraphrase a line from my .sig, there's something wrong when the State outlaws some behavior or practice but then sets itself up as the monopoly supplier. What's next? California Houses of Sexual Relief? ("Our schools win too!") I've found that even nonlibertarians are chagrinned by this display of governmental greed. If something is a crime, it's a crime. I don't think gambling is a crime, but the State has decreed that is. Hard to believe they bust casual gamblers who bet on bowling games (a recent case) while running their own lottery. (And the lotteries have incredibly bad payoff odds...something like 30-40%, if I remember correctly. A slot machine with these odds would be shut down instantaneously as being a theft device! The state lotteries are often called "taxes on stupidity," and none of the well-off folks I know ever play this sucker's game. So, I should be rejoicing that Ma and Pa Kettle are squandering their paychecks on State-run gambling...but the principle is the thing I object to.) --Tim May There's something wrong when I'm a felon under an increasing number of laws. Only one response to the key grabbers is warranted: "Death to Tyrants!" ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay@got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Higher Power: 2^1398269 | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."