Internet Gambling Community United by Focus on the Family, Again
In a letter to the United States Congress, meant to counter-act the lobbying Casino Gambling Web has done on behalf of the American people, Focus on the Family and other religious groups attacked the Internet gambling community, claiming all online casino operators are money launderers and/or terrorists, and/or supporters of terrorism.
"Internet gambling... creates fertile ground for criminal activity and threatens homeland security by potentially funding terrorist activity," the letter reads.
This idea that online gambling threatens homeland security is outrageous and slanderous, not to mention insulting to the hard working people who work at these companies, most of which are legitimate and publicly traded in their respective countries.
More importantly, there is no proof behind these outrageous claims, they are just thoughts worked up in the vivid imaginations of the religious fundamentalists based on outdated stereotypes of shady gambling parlors run by the Mafia in the mid to early twentieth century.
In their letter to the United States Congress the religious groups point out that millions of Americans gamble online every year. They feel this is the reason it needs to be banned, however, this is the exact reason why it is considered a prohibition. By banning Internet gambling in the United States the government has forbade an activity participated in by the masses.
As a side note, the prohibition of alcohol in the 1920's was strongly supported by the Ku Klux Klan. Would it be fair to associate the religious fundamentalists pushing for the 21st century form of prohibition with the Ku Klux Klan, as they associate all gambling entities with terrorists?
Focus on the Family also points out in their letter to Congress that the United States is in discord with the World Trade Organization, so much so that the WTO ruled against the United States in a case brought against them by the tiny island nation of Antigua. The religious groups believe the US has the right to disobey the WTO ruling and emphasizes in their letter that the US should not back down to the WTO and continue to disregard International trade laws.
To further point out the reasons why Internet gambling should be made and kept illegal Chad Hills, Focus on the Family's seemingly fictitious in-house gambling analyst said, "There are well over 800 commercial and tribal casinos, alongside 42 state lotteries saturating our nation's landscape."
On their gambling information page they go on to say that, "Gambling has attained unprecedented levels of acceptance, glamorzation, and popularity in the United States. Once confined to the remote desert region of Nevada, gambling, in one form or another, is now legal in 48 of the 50 states. Utah and Hawaii remain the only exceptions."
Ironically, that is the same point pro-Internet gambling lobbyists are giving as to why the online industry should be legalized. It is also the reason the WTO ruled against the US in the case brought upon them by Antigua.
Antigua says... 'You say it's for moral reasons that you ban online gambling, yet you allow gambling in 48 states.'
WTO says.. 'Yeah, that's not right, you guys can't do that.'
US says... 'We are a superpower, we can do whatever we want to do.'
Religious groups say... 'Right on US!'
In conclusion, the letter Focus on the Family, who teamed up with several other religious groups to write, only reinforces all the reasons why the United States should legalize, regulate, and tax Internet gambling.
Once again we must thank Focus on the Family for uniting the Internet gambling community and giving legalized online gambling legislation currently on the table the final push it needs to pass.