Well, those who don’t occasionally write for a poker magazine may not be aware of it, but a bill passed this week (as a rider to another bill altogether) that basically makes it illegal to play poker for money online. I’m not surprised. I’m just disappointed. This just in: government is teh stupid.
I know this is going to sound like more liberal California claptrap, but hey, geniuses in Washington: What if you embraced and taxed the shit out of it? Do you think that might pay for some of the huge national debt, or even offset a fraction of the staggering costs of this extended vacation in Iraq? Or are you actually going to tell me that low-stakes online gambling ruins the moral fiber of the country that installs puppet dictators worldwide?
I didn’t play online that much or for any notable stakes–I’ve actually won more in friendly live games and local card rooms, and even the sum total of all that activity wouldn’t buy a decent guitar–but this is just dumb. And yes, this probably spells doom for my freelance outlet. So I guess I do have something invested in poker’s popularity!