Howard Shaffer Adds Two Cents to UIGEA Debate

Filed in archive Poker Laws on March 19, 2008

When people speak from places like Harvard, other people tend to listen. Hat tip to Bill Rini who posted this video he found at Compatible Poker (great place to look for US-friendly online poker sites and sites that let you use a Mac). Howard Shaffer, Director, Division on Addiction, Harvard School of Medicine sits down and explains that the "vast" majority of gamblers tend to gamble in moderate amounts. Shaffer goes on to debunk the myth that gambling leads to other addictions and sites his scientific study does not hold the myth to be true. In fact the amount "problem gamblers" now versus the 1970s has not increased despite the explosion of tribal casinos, multi-state lotteries, and of course online gambling.

With videos like these from renown experts on things like addiction and consumer spending coming forward to plea the online poker/gambling communities cases, how long can the government go on with their anti-gambling/banking spiel despite Americans voicing clearly that their freedom to spend their money in this fashion should not be impeded. Online gambling might not be illegal in the US, but opening up the bank lines again would get it back to its pre-UIGEA glory.

I'll get off my soapbox now and return to fun things like cursing the frog avatar at Full Tilt for hitting that three outer.