Rolling the dice

As I've been saying for years, if you let the government diminish the civil rights of drug consumers because you don't take drugs, the day would come when they would be coming after your vice next. And so it came to pass that a new war was declared by the legislative nannies, a war on internet gambling. It's funny how much the gamblers sound like drug policy reformers.

"It makes no sense whatsoever," Lanni told gambling industry officials attending the Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas. "Prohibition didn't work, this isn't going to work."

Later, Lanni said he hoped Congress would commission a study into the effect of online gambling.

"We're looking even in the lame-duck session to reintroduce this bill with some of our compatriots in the House and Senate to study (Internet) gaming," said Lanni, who directs the world's second-largest casino company.

"We think it can be taxed, we think it can be regulated, we think it can be licensed," Lanni said. "With the new leadership, with the Democrats winning the House and the Senate, we think we're going to have a much better opportunity to do that."

I would suggest Mr. Lanni not hold his breath waiting for the Dems to save him. If their record on drug policy reform is any indication, once the government outlaws a private, non-infringing behavior, they won't easily re-legalize it - especially if they figure out a way to get money and score political points for enforcing the ban.