This column may be illegal

Submitted by Bill St. Clair on Sun, 18 Jun 2006 09:39:54 GMT  <== Politics ==> 

Danny Westneat at The Seattle Times - Washington state has made internet gambling a felony. But not just gambling itself. Talking about gambling or linking to gambling sites is now also illegal. Unless, of course, the gambling your're talking about is the state's own tax on the mathematically challenged, the lottery. So, if you live in Washington state, be careful about clicking this link to fullcontactpoker.com. Or prepare to rightfully shoot any nanny-state enforcer who tries to arrest you for it. John Lopez commented on this article at No Treason: [notreason]

On the other hand, is it against the law for the Washington State Lottery to provide "gambling information" (and let's be candid: they are doing just that) via the internet? No, probably not, because the intent of this law isn't to impose any sort of hurdles on revenue collection, the intent of this law is to prevent competition for gambling dollars. Even if the state's lawmakers weren't smart enough to write a nice exclusion for themselves, every cop-bot out there knows that the state's lottery website isn't to be touched.

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