Louisiana Decides It Can Clean Up Offshore Online Gambling All By Itself

from the priorities dept

It turns out that the arrest of another British online gambling executive yesterday here in the US was based on a warrant from Louisiana state police, not a federal investigation, as was the case with the earlier arrest of the company BetOnSports. So the story gets even better — now state officials are joining the fun, and trying to assert some authority where their jurisdiction is questionable at best. Never mind that Louisiana is home to plenty of brick-and-mortar casinos; apparently online gambling is just simply unacceptable (or maybe they don’t like the competition). Really, this is just silly — not only are they probably overstepping their jurisdiction, arresting and prosecuting this guy really won’t do anything to stop the people of Louisiana from gambling online. Even if it did, they’d just go to a casino or engage in some other form of legalized gambling. What bothers the state so much about this being online? The fact that they can’t tax it? Arresting company executives won’t help change that either. As we’ve been saying for some time, drawing these companies into a dialogue and coming up with a rational way to regulate and tax the industry is the best solution. Of course, that’s probably way too much to hope for.


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Comments on “Louisiana Decides It Can Clean Up Offshore Online Gambling All By Itself”

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21 Comments
wolff000 says:

Re: well

The idiocy of some people still astounds me. What does murder have to do with online gambling other than the fact they are both illegal? Since I’m pretty sure you have jaywalked at some point in your life why don’t you go turn yourself into the authorities now. Since you are one of the types that obvioulsy believes that any offense no matter how inane should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. I won’t waste any more time on you since I honestly consider people that think like you below me.

Big Huge Dave says:

Re: well

“Arresting murderers and bank robbers doesn’t stop those from occurring either, so I guess we should forget about arresting them, too?

Go ahead brainiacs, tell me this is an ad absurdum argument.”

Okay, your argument is absurd.

Murderers and bank robbers physically harm the person or property of another.

People who gamble are not hurting anyone but themselves. They also hurt their families and relationships in many cases, too, but we can’t go around making it illegal to hurt people emotionally. If we do that then breaking up with your girlfriend should be illegal, and divorce, and a myriad of other things.

If you’re married or dating someone with a gambling problem, and they’re hurting you financially, then what you do about the situation is up to you, such as leaving the person, or even suing them in court for damages or whatnot.

I think that summarizes the tip of the iceberg as to why your argument is absurd.

Brian (profile) says:

I live in New Orleans, and am really surprised this is not on any news here. For the record, there’s only one ‘brick-and-mortar” state-sponsored casino (non-tribal), but we do have several riverboats. Semantics.

Murder isn’t legal anywhere. Whereas the hypocrisy of gov’t anti-gambling stance is stunning.

My problem with LA’s gambling industry is that we target our own people. The casinos on the coast in MS have been such a success and cash-cow for that state b/c it’s from LA and AL’s tourists… The state only hurts itself when the taxes are generated from in-state gamblers. Negatives far outwiegh the positives in that scenario.

Now reality sets in. I’m now a classed as an habitual felon b/c I love to bet a little on NFL football. I’m not going to stop and I’m not alone. The cause/effect is debatable, but the parallels to last centuries Prohibition is real.

Sanguine Dream says:

We all know...

the government doesn’t like what it can’t control or take a huge cut of the action from. This is why the goververnment really hasn’t acted on net neutrality yet. Why bother to intervene when your pockets are already fat with money? The only way they would want to cut a deal with these sites is if they (the government) literally sets all terms. You know kinda like an ultimatum.

Joe Smith says:

sauce for the goose ...

Trying to extend the reach of American law is a dangerous game. If America’s laws can make illegal conduct in England which is legal there then Pakistan or France or China can make illegal conduct in the US which is otherwise legal here.

What happens when US businessmen travelling overseas start getting arrested by Interpol on warrants from Pakistan for crimes carrying the death penalty?

Anonymous Coward says:

Re: sauce for the goose ...

What happens when ..

What happens then is that we are all screwed, and the “global government” gets reset to the lowest common denominator. Oh, and the entire world will be required to “pick an internet” by signing treaties to access certain fiber lines between countries. won’t that be wonderful.

Anonymous Coward says:

not clear

the #1 post seems a little unclear to some of the more…umm..’intellectual’ responders (though that seems slightly oxymoronic).

He/she seems to have not said murder=gambling. I think he/she said illegal=illegal. Which is kinda true, and certainly not a strawman fallacy. Although, ironically calling it a strawman fallacy is in itself a strawman fallacy. Touche.

Anonymous Coward says:

I agree

State governments should only do one thing at a time. Every minute of every state and local employees time should be devoted to one single task. No other law should be enforced. No other work should be done until a town built 8 feet below sea level is drained and ready to be flooded again.

The morons who live there would make the state of Louisiana’s job much easier if they thought for one second, “hey, maybe living below sea level in a flood zone is not such a good idea.”

I say, instead of repairing the levees, tear down the remaining levees and build on dry land. Crazy, I know. The billions of dollars being wasted and stuffed into the pockets of overpaid contracters who are apparently doing little or no work, and the HIGHLY overpaid ACE should be used to pay each homeowner for his/her property and the state should shut down everything south of Metaire to habitation.

Once that is accomplished, the state can go back to the little things like arresting people and educating people, etc. Well, I mean they can do one or the other…as #15 points out, the state should only do one thing at a time.

Anonymous Coward says:

Re: I agree

There are so many issues at hand dealing with the Katrena disaster that the government should not have to deal with.

1. If you lived in a hurricane zone like New Orleans, the only thing you should have done is leave the city. There is no reason that anyone should have been allowed to remain.

2. If you remained in the city to ride out the storm, then you should have been left for dead, and the only thing that the national guard should have done was kill everyone off that remained… call it natural selection, or death by stupidity.

3. The Insurance companies and federal assistance programs should not assist anyone that remained during the storm. The only ones that should receive assistance were those that relocated. And, they should get enough money to find perminent residence elsewhere. No assistance should be given to anyone that is going to reside within the flood zone. That is just a waste of money.

New Orleans should be turned into the world’s largest land fill. That is all it is good for. Nothing but trash and poverty there. It fits to have shit live with shit. And since they are used to living like shit, they can feel right at home in everyone elses shit.

As for the online gaming thing… Who cares!! Let the empovrished blow their kid’s dinner money on the slots… The less crack babies, the better. Sorry if I don’t feel sorry for all of the people in the super dome or trapped in the floods… I have common sense and I use it. These people just want to make a political statement by not taking the time to rise above their self imposed poverty. If they would put as much effort into working hard as they do at finding any way to be lazy and poor, then they would be millionaires. NO SYMPATHY EVER!!

cheryl says:

Re: Re: I agree I DISAGREE

I shake my head in disbelief after reading your comment. How shallow of you to think and say the things you say, I have seen the pain and suffering of these people first hand and you can’t possibly relate,I will pray for you and hope that one day you will like the person looking back at you in the mirrow…

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