Legislation?

I wanted to follow-up with the news story I posted last night regarding the baby who died in a car at a local Southern California Casino. The details are still a bit sketchy but here is what has been reported. The mother went into the casino (presumably to gamble) and the husband and baby waited out in the car. The husband fell asleep and when he woke up he found the baby not breathing. The case has been referred to the County Medical Examiner as a death investigation not a homicide. The only thing I can say is I firmly believe there are no coincidences in life.

Congressman Bob Goodlatte from Virginia has introduced HR 4777 The Internet Prohibition Gambling Act. To read more about the bill please click here. It appears this is a bi-partisan effort from another Congressman in Virginia which in today's politics should be considered a big deal but I won't go into that. Here is an excerpt from Congressman's Bob Goodlatte website regarding this piece of legislation; "This bipartisan legislation will crack down on the growing problem of illegal, off shore gambling, as well as illegal gambling that crosses state lines over phone lines and Internet technologies. These activities suck billions of dollars per year out of the U.S. economy, serve as a vehicle for money laundering, undermine families, and threaten the ability of states to enact and enforce their own laws."

I believe bills like this one have been introduced over the past years and all have failed for a number of reasons. I have no idea what lies ahead for this piece of legislation but I can comment on one part of Congressman's statement; "undermine families". I can speak from experience that my inability to control my gambling on sports via the internet certainly undermined my family and caused me to do inexplicable and illegal things.

I am not sure if the Congressman from Virginia was alluding to compulsive gambling in this statement and if he is not it is unfortunate. Me as a compulsive gambler would have found another venue to place my wagers if the internet was unavailable due to legislation and I believe the bigger concern should be the awareness and treatment for compulsive gamblers. This legislation is a band-aid and does not address the real issue; compulsive gambling.

It will be interesting to see how this legislation pans out and like I had mentioned these types of bills have been introduced over the years only to die on the vine. This bill does attack the off-shore gambling industry and not the land based casinos. The gaming industry in the United States is a very powerful industry with lots of money but they are not being threatened by this legislation or are they? It appears the islands of Antigua, Cost Rica, Belize, Jamaica and other remote islands across the world are in the cross hairs of this legislation. I don't know what may happen but I hope there is one member of Congress that looks at the big picture. Yes, they can make it illegal to place wagers on the internet but that would not have stopped me because I am and will always be a compulsive gambler.

Today I am resting from my Gamblers Anonymous meetings. I am not going to a meeting today even though there are two options. I am picking my mother up at the airport this evening who is coming in to visit the grandchildren for the President's Day Weekend. My mother is trying to surprise my daughter but my daughter seems to think something is going on because my wife has been cleaning all day. Usually my wife cleans when someone visits and my daughter had asked me why is Mommy cleaning and I told her because the house is really dirty. Which is not a lie but it is not the whole truth. Even though my daughter is only 8 years old she is a very intelligent little girl and makes me smile all the time. I am sure grandma will be able to surprise my daughter but I know my daughter will say "I told you so" because she knew something was going on.