Keeping the Business Legal, Moral

New publications online and in print have raised the issue this week in the United States and across the world. Posing morality versus money, the articles question governments' hypocrisy. Special focus of the criticism is directed at the habit of encouraging local and internal forms of gambling, while banning external gambling operations. The victims of this state protectionism policy are gambling websites. While the casinos in Las Vegas and Atlantic City and the state lotteries generate over $30 billion a year, the government has no problem banning other forms of gambling. Criticism of gambling as encouraging bad elements in society - being morally dangerous to the social fabric cannot go hand in hand with encouraging other forms of gambling.

State monopolies of gambling operations that are applied to the sites seem also problematic. In a world of globalization and free trade across borders, such instances in which executives from a certain country are arrested when arriving at another country. Although claiming that they protect their societies, it seems more as if the governments are protecting their gambling monopolies, and sources of income, while acting hypocritically.

The countries' fight against gambling operations is not futile. They can cause losses along the way and may even succeed in the end. Unlike commonly held beliefs, the Internet can indeed be policed - an example for this is China although it will not be easily accomplished and will need a united effort by many countries. A look at the present reveals a hypocritical policy of governments. A look to the future sees the sites still operating and even spreading to other media as technology and the gambling community gambles on and on.