Online Casino Laws Cause Unintended Results, Says FreedomWorks

'The solution is not to drive the industry underground and offshore. Rather, it is to ensure that online gamers have access to the rule of law and that providers of online gaming face strict market discipline.

The recent attention paid the cheating scandals at Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet has drawn a response from FreedomWorks. FreedomWorks is a grassroots organization that promotes less government, lower taxes, and greater individual freedom and liberty. Its chairman is former House Majority Leader Dick Armey.

FreedomWorks cites the issue of online casino cheating as an example of unintended consequences of government action. By attempting to outlaw and ban Internet gambling, legislators have driven online casinos offshore. According to FreedomWorks, this has caused the consumer greater danger than if the industry were legalized and regulated, an unfortunate result for laws intended to protect consumers.

In fact, FreedomWorks goes so far as to assert that conditions are worse for citizens than before any law was passed, saying the open environment before the UIGEA was safer for US citizens than the current situation.

Wayne T. Brough, head economist for FreedomWorks, says, "There is no reason online gaming should be inherently more dangerous than purchasing a flat screen TV online. If anything, the incident demonstrates the dangers of government policies that drive online gaming offshore or underground, beyond the rule of law.”

Brough goes on to note that any policy that tries to ban a multi-billion dollar market with millions of customers is a foolish approach, and that consumers who play at online casinos should have the same protections they enjoy making any other transactions, be they online or at a mall.

Brough further castigates US policy, saying, 'The solution is not to drive the industry underground and offshore. Rather, it is to ensure that online gamers have access to the rule of law and that providers of online gaming face strict market discipline, where trust can be rewarded and a breach of trust means a business is not viable.”

Republicans are largely responsible for the enacting of laws against online gambling, yet Armey is a leading Republican figure denouncing such strategy. Former Republican Senator Alphonse D'Amato is chairman of the Poker Players Alliance, and Republican Representatives Peter King of New York and Pete Sessions of Texas have taken stances against the government's prohibition of Internet gaming.

With the influence of the evangelistic fringe of the Republican Party waning, libertarian Republicans and Democrats should be expected to correct the unintended damages done by the UIGEA and the Justice Department's zealous attempts to enforce anti-gambling law.