Mass Governor-Get a Life!!

[Da Fanatic]

Massachusetts governor hedges bet on online gambling

Posted Nov 13th 2007 5:30PM by Tom Barlow
Filed under: Law, Business of sports

I'll bet you ten bucks you can't guess what Governor Deval Patrick of Massachusetts is up to!

If I were a resident of Massachusetts and he has his way, making such a bet over the Internet would make me a criminal. The governor would like to toss me in jail for up to two years and fine me as much as $25,000 for gambling online.

The dude is not against gambling, however. The law making Internet gaming a crime in Massachusetts is part of the legislation he's pushing to allow three casinos to be built in his state. This leads me to conclude that Patrick doesn't hate gaming; he hates the Internet.
According to an article in today's Boston Globe, Internet gambling was a $12 billion industry in 2005. Certainly, I can see that Internet gaming has inherent social costs -- it feeds gambling addiction, its honesty is poorly regulated, and taxes are hard or impossible to recover. Last, but not least, offshore gambling companies are hard to hit up for campaign contributions.

None of which can be said for brick and mortar casinos. The casinos, if approved, would bring a quick $600 million or more in licensing fees to the state's coffers, as well as employment. Most states also claim that in-state casinos slow the flow of resident's income to out-of-state spots.

Earlier today, I blogged about the advances in computer programs that have learned to play poker and other internet games better than any human beings could hope to, which could be a silver stake in the heart of online gaming. Perhaps the Governor should allow the free market to work its magic.

I wouldn't bet on it, though.