To my British friends smarting from the lickings we gave ’em in the Revolution and the War of 1812 (well, New Orleans anyway). Good news.
We’re at war again. And this time you’ll win.
The Bush Administration has declared war against the Internet, specifically that form of e-commerce known as gambling. A new law will force banks and credit agencies into cooperating with this war on commerce.
Guess who leads this new industry? The British. Pictured, for instance, is Gareth Southgate, now manager of the Middlesbrough football club. Notice the shirt. The sponsor is 888.com, an Internet gambling site.
Boro is just one of several teams sporting the name of gambling sites on its shirts this season. One of the regular advertisers at Manchester United, owned by American Malcolm Glazer, is BetFred, a sports gambling site. The shirt sponsor for Aston Villa, now owned by Cleveland Browns owner Randy Lerner, is another gambling site, 32red.
The purpose of this bill is as old-fashioned as a Third World dictator trying to stop Internet cafes. The purpose
is to protect government-controlled monopolies. States with lotteries
and casinos don’t want to lose part of the handle. There is no "moral"
component to all this, as the bill’s sponsors claim. That’s a cover.
This is only a question of who gets the action.
For now, the British sites’ and their shareholders are knocked on
their heels. But I guarantee that workarounds will be found. They
always are. Deposit money with a bank registered in a third country,
and that bank will than handle your account with the casinos. The U.S.
can’t prevent the initial transfer, and after that everything is legal.
It will take a few years, but eventually, this time, it’s the U.S. that will come crawling to the negotating table.
So if the British accept the Revolution as a loss and 1812 as a draw, we’ll be tied.
Actually, I believe the idea of the (soon to be) law is to prevent exactly the workaround you are talking about. No reputable off-shore financial institution is going to handle the funds of small-time gamblers, leaving them at the mercy of what will likely be an “industry” that is 90% scams and rip-offs. This is really the American Revolution in reverse, where we want to impose our taxes on foreign companies (and we probably should given that the US is currently 80% of their market). One would imagine, given the amount of money at stake, that compromise will be found (at least to allow more taxation of the users, who have been on the honor system). Then again, one only need look to marajauna to see a case where regulation that costs the government billions in lost tax revenue and wastes billions more in purposeless law-enforcement activity has been allowed to survive many decades. In the meantime, I’ve cashed out my PartyPoker account and expect to probably never return.
Actually, I believe the idea of the (soon to be) law is to prevent exactly the workaround you are talking about. No reputable off-shore financial institution is going to handle the funds of small-time gamblers, leaving them at the mercy of what will likely be an “industry” that is 90% scams and rip-offs. This is really the American Revolution in reverse, where we want to impose our taxes on foreign companies (and we probably should given that the US is currently 80% of their market). One would imagine, given the amount of money at stake, that compromise will be found (at least to allow more taxation of the users, who have been on the honor system). Then again, one only need look to marajauna to see a case where regulation that costs the government billions in lost tax revenue and wastes billions more in purposeless law-enforcement activity has been allowed to survive many decades. In the meantime, I’ve cashed out my PartyPoker account and expect to probably never return.
Another typo in the title, right? “Brtain” rather than “Britain”?
Another typo in the title, right? “Brtain” rather than “Britain”?
Hi,
My name is Emily, and I’m an Seo Account Manager for 888.com.
Due to the latest Google algorithm changes we are currently doing a lot of hard work to clean up a lot of the incoming links to our site to comply with Google’s quality guidelines.
We detected this link coming from your site, http://www.www.danablankenhorn.com/2006/10/war_with_brtain.html
It would really mean a lot to us if you could remove the links.
This link is harmful for our site as well as yours.
We really appreciate your effort and time and let us know if we can help you in any way.
Best Regards,
Emily
SEO Account Manager
Hi,
My name is Emily, and I’m an Seo Account Manager for 888.com.
Due to the latest Google algorithm changes we are currently doing a lot of hard work to clean up a lot of the incoming links to our site to comply with Google’s quality guidelines.
We detected this link coming from your site, http://www.www.danablankenhorn.com/2006/10/war_with_brtain.html
It would really mean a lot to us if you could remove the links.
This link is harmful for our site as well as yours.
We really appreciate your effort and time and let us know if we can help you in any way.
Best Regards,
Emily
SEO Account Manager