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By: Victor H. Royer | If you have followed any of my writings, in various articles worldwide and my many books, you probably know by now that I am no fan of government interference in the private decisions of when, how, and how much to gamble. Be it online, or in real-world-casinos, the choice to play casino games is a personal choice of the individual, and NOT subject to government interference, or regulation.
While I DO agree that there needs to be oversight, and regulations to assure integrity and fairness of the games, and to prevent crooks from rigging them, extending that regulatory arm to the actual players themselves is not only unjust, unnecessary, invasive, and plainly wrong, but it bespeaks of a dangerous road to total governmental control over the decisions of the individual. And – particularly in Europe – I am flabbergasted why any government would think that this is OK? Have they not learned anything from European recent history? Hmmm …?
While today it may seem like an innocuous decision to limit the Swedish player’s rights to deposit only $500 per week, what’s next? Is it that Swedish players will only be allowed to deposit in a specifically-designated government business, which is deemed “pure” by their governmental standards? And what next? Will then Swedish players suddenly no longer be allowed to play on Jewish-owned web sites and/or online casinos? Or buy from their stores? Hmmmm …?
Get the point?
See where this is leading?
Whenever ANY government decides to limit an individual’s right to personal choice – no matter how “good” or “grand” the intent of that government may be initially – the fact still remains that ALL such restrictive positions by government always lead to a dictatorial state, and always leave criminals to exploit the void, and never actually lead to the “solution” for which this government seeks to justify such restrictive actions and policies.
In the USA, this experiment was tried in 1920 with Prohibition on alcohol. This not only failed miserably, but only served to increase people’s appetite for liquor. People who would never have taken to drink flocked to illegal “speakeasies” and alcohol consumption rose by staggering amounts. And all that illegal money flowed into the hands of organized crime – the repercussions of which are still being felt today.
In 1961, the Wire Act in the USA banned all interstate Sports Wagering, putting $10 billion in 1960’s dollars into the hands of organized crime each year! Only recently “reinterpreted” by the US Justice Department, to allow Sports Betting in the 21st Century.
In 1970, the Controlled Substances Act was signed into Law by President Richard Nixon, because the old-men of the then US Congress were deathly afraid that the “Hippies will take over the world!” And “Our young people will die from drugs.” And “We must keep drugs from them.”
And the result?
Billions of dollars to the drug cartels. Millions of dead people due to unsafe drugs. Even today, after a 5-year-USA-prohibition on prescription opioids for legitimate patients, death and addiction rates rose by 86% over the past 5 years alone! And ALL of them from illegal drugs obtained from the street, or from social media. And NONE from legitimate patients and their prescribers! And in that span, legitimate pain-management patients – like me – can’t get our medicine.
So what is the point?
Swedish regulators are correct in going after illegal operations. They are correct in cleaning up unscrupulous operations and illegitimate or unsafe online games and casinos.
But they are NOT correct in trying to stifle the individual Swedish player’s right to choose for themselves what they want to play, when, how often, and for how much! That is a decision of the PERSON directly, and NOT for the government. ANY government! Not unless, that is, we are once again going down the road to fascism or communism. And I, for one, have had enough of both.
Government regulations work best if they are designed to SAFEGUARD the games and the players, but NOT when they are designed to try and keep players from harming themselves. And that’s the argument in Sweden today, about limiting deposits to only $500 per week. This will only make it harder on legitimate online casinos to operate, while driving millions of players, and billions of dollars, to illegal and offshore operations. With the use of VPN’s and proxy’s it’s not hard to bypass this stupidity from the Swedish government, and play anyway. And then the Swedish government won’t get any taxes either, and all that money will flow to other operators elsewhere.
So, if you’re in Sweden, talk to your government representative, and ask them to learn something from history. And maybe then they will then get the picture, and get the point, and leave legitimate casinos and their players alone, and without undue interference or regulations. If you wanan know more about casinos with no limits for the swedish market, click here.
Vegas Vic
January 2022
