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Microcap & Penny Stocks : WINR-Secure Banking to Global Internet Gaming & E-Commerce -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dan Thomas who wrote (5847)	8/4/1999 9:46:00 PM
From: michael john stout	Respond to of 6545

Dear Senator Kyl: I am writing to ask you to reconsider your stance on internet gambling. I feel there are a number of reasons that this activity should be legalized and regulated. Essentially, I feel this is a symbolic issue. Americans should be free to gamble their extra money if this is what they want to do. If the government decides to prohibit us from doing this, despite the fact that such gambling is legal and wildly popular in Europe and Asia (among other places), it will be an unfortunate restriction placed on the freest global medium ever. I am familiar with the standard arguments made by those who support your view on this issue and feel that I have convincing answers to them. I have heard some argue that children could easily gamble their parents' money over the internet. However, parents should take responsibility for making sure their children don't have access to their credit cards and/or checkbooks. This observation applies to the 'e-commerce' field in general. Children could just as easily and in fact would more likely use their parents' credit cards to purchase beanie babies, roller blades, etc. Will the government prohibit online purchases to prevent this? No, and it shouldn't. I have also heard the moral argument, that people who can't afford to gamble are most likely to do so. However, online casinos are not nearly so vigorous in pursuing customers as state lotteries, whose behavior is scandalous at worst, highly unscrupulous at best. However, lotteries are supported because they provide tax revenue for the government. This brings me to my suggestion about internet gambling. Why not allow US operators to run internet casinos under strict regulation, taxing bettor winnings and casino earnings? There already exists software which can easily facilitate this regulation. In fact, Winner's Internet Network (www.winr.net) licenses such government-friendly software. Few would seriously argue that prohibiting internet gambling is possible. And is it really worthwhile to attempt to enforce such a ban? How is betting on the internet worse than betting in a casino? There is no convincing evidence that this is the case. Conventional casinos might feel threatened by internet casinos, but barrier to entry is low enough that they could easily expand their operations. So the casino lobby would likely have little objection to this. Doesn't it make sense to regulate and tax something which is nearly impossible to prohibit and then use the proceeds to fund worthwhile programs? I would very much appreciate a sincere response to my inquiry. Thank you for your time.