Это Америка

[birdwatcher]

Shares of PartyGaming Plc, Sportingbet Plc and 888 Holdings Plc plummeted, wiping out $7 billion of market value, after Congress passed laws to shut down Internet gambling in the U.S.

``Internet gambling has been illegal since the inception of the Internet, but there has been no way to enforce it,'' Representative James Leach, an Iowa Republican, said Sept. 30. By making it ``illegal to use a financial instrument to settle an Internet wager,'' Congress is ``putting responsibility on the financial community,'' Leach said.

If this story is right, указывает Джеффри Такер, the government is pretty well demolishing a vast industry and for no good reason. Producers, consumers, and everyone else involved will all have the quality of their lives diminished. And while you might say that laissez-faire gambling litters up towns with unseemly billboards, attracts unsavory elements, and the like, internet gambling takes place without anything like a negative externality.

Comments

[glocka.livejournal.com]

Когда сообразят как откат от этого бизнеса получать - опять разрешат.

[birdwatcher.livejournal.com]

Ага, скорость прогресса определяет наименее сообразительный.