Published on 2006-06-26 21:51:02

First, Washington State just recently made playing poker and gambling online a Class C felony. Then, word comes out of Dallas that this past weekend, an underground card room named Aces was busted by the Dallas police department, and get this, the SWAT TEAM was called in to help make arrests. I guess that the police department felt that 60-70 20 year olds just out of college poised a real and credible threat. Dealers were hauled off in handcuffs, and a large amount of money was confiscated from the players.

Most of the players got off fairly easy, just receiving tickets, but still. The SWAT team? Is playing poker really that dangerous to our society? It's illegal to play poker online or in an underground card room, but it's fine to fly to Vegas and gamble away my house down payment or go to the local casino and gamble there? Is this a case of the government really wanting to protect us from ourselves or is there something more sinister going on here?

This is some scary stuff. Dallas seems to be busting local card rooms. Washington State can now technically throw people in jail for playing cards online, and has actually already forced an affiliate casino website in Washington State to shut down. Given that millions and millions of Americans already play poker online, are they going to throw half the population in jail or ?

In the UK and other countries, online gambling is legal and regulated and the government makes money from online gambling. Whereas in the US, you are committing an illegal act by logging into Party Poker and playing 1/2 Hold'em. Something wrong with this picture?

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Filed Under: Random Poker News

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