The Las Vegas photos were taken on Friday showing the city awaiting the three day weekend. Remember, go to Tao of Poker.com for the best poker live blogging from the Internet’s #1 poker blogger, Dr. Pauly, coming to you live from the LA Poker Classic at the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles.
A view of the Luxor Resort on the Las Vegas Strip.
Another major effort to increase Uncles’ power and force feed Americans a higher moral code as defined by US House Represenative, Bob Goodlatte, a republican from Virginia occurred Thursday with the announcement of the reintroduction of an Intenet gambling ban bill. The honorable man has come to the aid of the country in one of the most dire times in its history with a solution to a possible problem that may involve Internet gambling. Goodlatte solution is to ban all Internet gambling on a federal level and prohibit the use credit cards, eft’s or any other electronic means to fund offshore gambling accounts. Bob Goodlatte believes criminalizing the $12 billion dollar Internet gambling business will stop Americans from being involved in this undesirable leisure time activity. If passed, the bill will empower the feds with a legal right to monitor the billions of credit card transactions of Americans while scanning for illegal conduct. Goodlatte would have already had his way if fellow lawmakers had passed his original Internet gambling ban bill in 2000. It was barely defeated in the House.
The Monte Carlo Resort with the New York, New York.
What does this mean to the millions of US citizens that play poker online? Play poker and use any method to fund a playing account and you have broken federal law and may be prosecuted and sent to a federal prison. Considering the sheer numbers of criminals the passage of this bill could create perhaps the Washington people need to consider buying one or two of the smaller states and turning them into penal colonies. Bringing the unlimited power of the feds’ big computers to sort all of the credit records real time will result in long lists of Internet gambling criminals every day. Gotta put them somewhere since the prisons are already filled with a bunch of pot smokers.
The group with the most knowledge and experience in conducting and regulating legal gambling, the Nevada casino industry, is showing early opposition to the Goodlatte bill. The Nevada casino group has remained neutral in the past but apparently now believes a federal ban on Internet gambling is unnecessary. Explains Frank Frehrenkopf, president of the American Gaming Association, Nevada’s gaming man in Washington, saying that the board members believe the technology now exist to effectively regulate Internet gambling. He also indicated that a paper is being prepared for an April release on the feasibility of regulating Internet gambling.
The central Las Vegas strip is becoming high density.
US Represenative Goodlatte blames disgraced Washington lobbyist, Jack Abramoff, for the defeat of his first try at creating a new mega-class of victimless-crime criminals. His bill will accomplish his agenda by updating the U.S. Wire Act of 1961, that notorious bit of legislation originally intended to make a federal crime of using interstate phone lines for betting. The Act would be modified to include Internet gambling and account for new technology. Catching those phone crimes in the act requires the feds to listen in for any wagering related wrong doings of Americans calling state-to-state. Listening in on phone conversations is fast becoming a federal preoccupation and now Goodlatte purposes to build a listening post in the virtual world.
MGM Grand Resort on the Las Vegas strip.
Opposition to Goodlatte’s bid to make millions of Americans criminals comes from the Sue Schneider, CEO of River City Group in St. Louis whom said:
“Internet Gambling is building a more solid American clientele, and if those folks are activated, Congress will have to listen to them.”
A true statement that only becomes evident when all of those solid American clientele are ‘activated’ into a common front to challenge this misguided federal legislation that will remove another freedom of choice. Goodlatte said his bill will pass even if all of the Nevada casinos come out against it, so that leaves us, the Internet masses. We are the people of the Internet and we have a very large collective voice that can, through the instant nature of our medium, quickly become too loud to ignore, especially by re-election seeking politicians. Anyone want to organize this effort to flex our virtual muscles?
I wonder if Goodlatte was one of those Washington law monkeys lambasting Google for agreeing to Chinese government censure requests that limit the Internet experience for ordinary law-abiding Chinese citizens?
Traffic is the number #1 concern of Las Vegas residents.