WSJ poll favours online gambling

It’s not the first poll that the Wall Street Journal has run on the legalisation of internet gambling in the United States, and this weekend’s survey on the venerable business publication’s Community section again showed that a significant majority of respondents remain in favour of the pastime.
When we went to press, the poll – should Web gambling be legalised? – was showing a lively response, with 77.1 percent of respondents in favour of legalisation and 22.9 percent agin’ it.
The Journal prefaced its survey with the intro: “Lawmakers in some states are pushing for bills that aim to steer around federal laws prohibiting Internet wagering. Since gambling itself is not illegal, should the next step be to legalize gambling websites?”
Presumably triggered by the extensive mainstream media coverage generated by the New Jersey veto and news that a new federal attempt at legalisation is shaping up, the poll attracted positive comments, and some that indicated a concern that internet gambling would prove too powerful a competitor for traditional land gambling interests.
Poster Rick Geiger wrote:  “Gambling exists, web gambling exists, even in the US where the perception is that it is illegal, to the tune of over $6 billion now. The internet is an international platform and the idea that online gambling will exist all over the world but not in the US is childish and foolish. Online gambling should be openly legalized and regulated and taxed just like any other business. All we achieve by continuing the prohibition is to send money and jobs outside of the US.
“We have done studies showing the value within five years is over $21billion. People play games online by the millions and there is a confluence of online gaming and online gambling and online ecommerce. Burying ours heads in the sand will not stop technology or human nature.”
http://online.wsj.com/community/groups/state-economy-557/topics/should-web-gambling-legalized?commentid=2173609

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