21st Century Prohibition: Online Poker

Last Friday the FBI shut down several of the biggest online poker sites (at least in the United States) and indicted several of their financial backers. Moreover, the future of the US Chess League (sponsored largely by Pokerstars) is now in serious question as well.

I have a couple of friends who are professional poker players and several more who play frequently and indeed subsidize their income through poker, so I feel the need to make a couple of comments. Firstly, I have an uneasy relationship with professional poker--or any kind of gambling. My problem is that you aren't actually contributing anything to society as a poker pro--there is no end product. Essentially money is trading hands in perpetuity with the more skillful--or immediately lucky--making money off of the less-skilled (why the U.S. capitalist economy hasn't embraced--legalized and taxed--this is beyond me!).

And yet, all the players are willing and there is certainly a good deal of skill and work involved. It does seem a little funny, at the very least, that the government is cracking down on poker financiers at a time when mortgage financiers on Wall Street have taken advantage of others who did not choose to willingly participate in what was essentially a gambling enterprise. So, this strikes me as very similar to prohibition in a 21st century context. There are undoubtedly going to be a lot of lawsuits, and my only prediction is that this is going to get messier before it gets clearer.

Of course, our game in Bockman Hall is still on :-)