> Anyway, to let out another secret about myself, I am an ex-gambler.
> At one stage I used to put all my earnings, after paying my rent
> and food bills &c. through the Poker machines. I reformed myself
> and managed to wean myself off them. I personally think gambling is
> Evil Incarnate.
Well, at one stage, I had a roulette habit too. Which was easily fixed -
my bank account went to $0 and I stopped. :)
> Secondly, he doesn't have the right to determine what mature adults
> should be able to do for entertainment or how they spend their money.
Bingo.
> Thirdly as a technically adept person, we all know how difficult it
> would be to enforce this law in much the same way as the moronic porn laws.
> Also there is the question of innovation and production of new net
> technologies where there is revenue to be drawn. Like all things,
> in moderation, gambling can be fun but there needs to be some
> sort of regulation to allow those who wish to participate to do
> so in some sort of structured environment so they are not ripped off
> or end up losing their house/car/pets &c.
<rant>
If anything, there should be educational campaigns - regulation in any
form is evil. "Buyer beware" is my motto.
I am sick to death of the Australian government (note the
intentional lowercase g) handholding the population in *every*
situation. And the population gets more and more careless whilst losing
those valuable three or four collective brain cells.
Hell, I don't have to think before I buy anything! Research before buying
a product? Bugger it! - The government will protect me from my own
stupidity and shaft the supplier.
I don't have to read contracts and fine print which is there for a reason
- the government will protect me from my own stupidity - call in the Dept
of Fair Trading, the buyer was too stupid to read the T & C - give him a
refund!
It's getting to the point where even the way toilet paper rolls are
mounted is legislated - up or down? Compulsory this, compulsory that,
legal this, illegal that.. hell, I'd like to make my own decisions thanks.
On another note - has anybody noticed that hardware stores can't sell any
form of blade to under 16's? That pisses me off to no end - when I was
roughly 7 years old, I was using surgical scalpels to build models - my
parents showed me how to use them without lopping off fingers and they
trusted my ability - quite simple. By 16, I had powertools, chainsaws,
access to welders and oxy torches etc..
Now if I turned back the clock and was 16'ish again, I wouldn't be able to
go into HardwareHouse and buy a Stanley blade????? Excuse me? Is this so
the little Homies who hang outside Hoyts, look "cool" and try to mug
people don't have easy access to blades at my expense!? Rubbish. Just more
handholding and "fluffy feel good" tactics.
Hasn't anybody noticed that the general populace is slowly being led into
a "don't worry be happy" frame of mind (if they're not already) - don't
think - don't use your judgement. We'll tax the crap out of you.. it's
OK.. the footy is still on.. what's there to worry about?
</rant>
> The labour viewpoint of regulating net gambling is probably the
> best balanced approach and the lesser of two evils as people
> will gamble no matter what the law says and regulation at least
> stops those who cannot help their compulsion from having their
> life savings syphoned off by the mafia or yakuza or triads or
> whatever.
The whole reason for banning net gambling is that they can't tax offshore
gambling sites. Not for any ethical or moral reason.
Hell - anybody can still go to Star City and gamble their kidneys away to
their heart's content.. if you're going to ban gambling online - then
demolish the Casinos as well.. oh, but they can't do that can they?
Because Star City is owned by "reputable people" - oh, and Johhny is good
friends with them, and Alston gets his high grade smack from the owner of
the Crown in Melbourne.. so we'll forget about the bricks and mortar
casinos.. throw some FUD at the populace about the perverts on the 'net
and then mention "online gambling".. that'll fix'em.
//umar.
--
SLUG - Sydney Linux User Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
More Info: http://slug.org.au/lists/listinfo/slug
