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Gotta Keep ‘Em Regulated
A market that will reach $94 billion in revenue within two years, left in a web of questions and complications, the online gambling market is one that’s been the focal point of fierce debate in a political war that’s been fought since it’s creation. According to Gale opposing viewpoints online gambling is, “the practice of placing bets online from personal computers or mobile devices” (Gale). Prior to the creation of the internet, Interstate gambling began in the mid 1900’s, bets were wagered on sporting events over interstate phone lines controlled mostly by criminal organizations, despite being illegalized in 1961 the market continued to grow and eventually in the 1990’s came the introduction of early day online gambling websites such as casinos, poker games, bingo, lotteries, and more sophisticated sports betting platforms, which all acted as an online version of their physical counter parts. The ensuing political battle is a consistant back and forth between those who oppose and support the legality of online gambling, with those in favor intending to regulate revenue and impose a government tax, and those opposed seeing the morality of online gambling as too much of an issue to legalize the market. With the battle drawing closer to an end the question will soon be answered, does the financial benefit of regulating legalized gambling outweigh the moral quandaries and consequences involved? I believe the risk of online gambling is too threatening to be ignored, but the massive fiscal profit is a superior opportunity, and since the market has been historically run by criminals, it’s safe to say prohibition would not eliminate the problem.
Initially the government wanted nothing to do with online gambling, banning over the phone sports betting in 1961 with the federal wire act, the bill prohibited the use of interstate phone lines to wager sports bets. Prior to this act, interstate lines were utilized by organized crime syndicates. At the time the largest mobs received a sizable portion of their profit from interstate sports gambling, and President Kennedy sought to assist the states in protecting their pre-existing legal gambling markets by taking down their competition, while also crippling the mafia by taking out a main source of income. The bill served it’s purpose at the time and continued to do so for years to come, however, with the introduction of internet gambling, the applicability of the bill became a complicated subject, after multiple attempts by Clinton and Bush the Department of Justice declared in 2001 that the federal wire act of 1961 did apply to all forms of online gambling. This interpretation stood until Barack Obama and the Department of Justice reversed this ruling, claiming the act only applied to sports gambling. the bill has been interpreted and reinterpreted many times between parties and has become a useful political tool. Under president Trump the bill saw two different interpretations, on January 19, 2019 The department of justice rebuked it’s previous stance on the statute and declared that all internet or interactive gambling and betting including lottery tickets, casinos, and sports betting are prohibited by the Wire act. This was reinterpreted quickly after the first circuit court agreed with a local district court in New Hampshire that the bill only prohibits interstate transmissions of wire communications. The conclusion was that, “the linguistic maneuvers that are necessary to conclude that the sports-gambling modifier sweeps both backward and forward to reach all four of section 1084(a)’s prohibitions are too much for the statutory text to bear”(Clabot/Cloward 109-124). This is thought to be the most accurate modern day interpretations of the bill and is the interpretation that still stands today. The pickle ball game of legalization/prohibition progressed when another crucial step was taken in 2018 when the ruling of Murphy V. NCAA struck down the PASPA (Professional and Amatuer Sports Protection Act), a document passed in 1992 that had previously defined the legality and limitations of sports betting, the document had limited sports betting to Nevada and few other areas, when Murphy V. NCAA ruled it unconstitutional, the decision was left up to the individual states. This lead to a blossom in the online market, with states like Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Neveda, West Virginia and Delaware hopping on immediately to begin legalizing and regulating online betting. Today seven states currently allow online casinos and gambling, with other states including New York and California to closely follow, but many are still left unsure on the morality of online gambling. The lack of closing hours can lead one to waste an entire day away picking numbers and colors, and without your friends there to keep you from making a bad call, without security to make someone leave when they’ve had enough to drink, instead offering a 24 hour lawless casino open to anyone with a credit card, including children and adults with gambling issues, exposing gambling to a much larger audience than it previously could, it becomes a wild and uncontrollable atmosphere and a man or woman can sink as deeply into it as they please.
The risk of gambling can’t be neglected, Gambling can lead to poverty and addiction among many other pitfalls, and the much wider availability granted by online casinos greatly increases the chances of these consequences occurring. Prohibition is one idea consistently proposed, but one that could have even more dire consequences, with illegal online gambling already at large, and with the market historically being run by criminals, the market may be more dangerous underground. Gale opposing viewpoints says, “When a jurisdiction legalizes gambling, criminals with experience in illegal gambling often transfer their skills to create successful casinos in the United States and abroad. Similarly, many of the entrepreneurs who have made their fortunes in online gambling have had previous experience in criminal enterprises and possess an animosity toward the law”(Gale). With the risk of negative consequences associated with gambling seeming to stay the same regardless of it’s legal status, regulated online casinos can serve as a safer way to minimize risk and loss with the right government regulations and guidelines, keeping the money out of the hands of corrupted casinos. Land based casinos are almost guaranteed to be legit and always pays out due to government regulations, any cheating or rigging would result in disastrous consequences for the casino, an unregulated online casino could lack all these regulations, rigging games and neglecting pay outs entirely, providing more reasoning to regulate the market rather than try to suppress it. Additionally, by taking some tax they can make the industry even more profitable. The flat withholding rate at an online casino is 24%, which means for every dollar someone makes, the government gets twenty four cents, and with payouts reaching up to 150 million, it’s a very economically efficient opporitunity for the government to cash in on. Similar to alcohol prohibition, the legalization of online gambling can take a market already booming illegally and regulate it for government revenue, which is what is starting to occur in states with regulated online gambling.
The question of morality behind online gambling is sure to never fade, but as profits continue to soar, it’s hard to see a future where the market isn’t legalized and regulated. The self control required to gamble online is certainly that of much higher significance, but giving the government the opportunity to collect tax and work closely with these companies ensures the historic trend of criminal robbery and organized crime in online gambling is brought to a halt. As the war on online gambling quietly rages on I expect the rapid legalization of online gambling within states to continue and the industry to expand massively and generate much more income for the government. The online gambling industry is one of much value, although the obvious risk and consequences may be alarming, the good it does for the country by minimizing risk and maximizing profit in insurmountable, and with the evidence brought forward, I believe it to outweigh the consequences and risks involved, sacrificing the good of the individual for the benefit of the group, and in turn economically strengthening our country, instead of trying to suppress a dangerous and lucrative market, but instead regulate it and advertise the negative consequences and risks to make users as aware as possible before putting their money down. The regulation of this market is crucial to our country, to keep money out of the hands of dangerous criminals and instead into the hands of American businesses and government.
Works Cited
Cabot, Anthony, and Greg Cloward. “Federal Wire Act Should Adjust to State-Regulated Sports …” Libertpub.com, Apr. 2021, https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/glr2.2021.0004.
“Online Gambling.” Gale Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection, Gale, Farmington Hills, MI, 2020. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/PC3010999067/OVIC?u=hpu_main&sid=bookmark-OVIC&xid=c82f04f0. Accessed 25 Apr. 2022.
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Baby steps
As a writer, I’ve struggled tremendously in the past to write in my own voice, I find that often times after revising a a paper for hours the result would still be a lackluster composition that failed to portray my personality and articulate my thoughts. Previously my biggest challenge in writing was satisfying a teacher or rubric, with the introduction of our WordPress blog posts I faced a new challenge; writing for my peers. Immediately I felt the pressure that came with the fear that a classmate may be uninterested or bored of my work. Realizing how crucial it is now for me to convey my personality in my work, I began to shift the focus of my writing, gearing towards keeping the reader entertained rather than simply following guidelines. I armed myself with a thesaurus and kept the words ‘synonym of-‘ in my google search bar to strengthen my vocabulary. (Additionally supported by word-play day.) I revised my work sentence by sentence to ensure my thoughts were organized in a way that is personal, academic and engaging for my peers. Corners I had cut in the past I began to round beautifully.
The first time I was assigned with writing a blog post I was tasked with introducing myself to my classmates, I pounced on this opportunity and used it to present my charm and wit to the class in a short but engaging and comical introduction to myself through a hobby that I thought that could give enough insight to me as a person to keep my readers engaged. The result was a blog that oozed personality and was well received by my peers. The reviews I received were motivating and thoughtful, and always resulted in positive change for my paper. I put a large emphasis on the use of synonyms in my work this semester. I regularly threw out boring and overused words to suit a more decorated vocabulary, my commitment to entertainment and fear of boring a reader became my fuel for assignments, leading me to continually publish better papers with every passing assignment and always present a piece that I was certain could hold a reader’s attention. This bleed for innovation rooted in elementary school in response to my Third grade English teacher’s critique of my early work, “You can’t use ‘awesome’ as the only adjective in your essay Kenny, it’s boring” She would tell me, and her loss of patience and interest in my writing became the foundation for the future. I became a synonym sicario, swapping out any middle tier descriptive adjative for a superior and more relative phrase, my thesaurus had crinkles on nearly every page from words I had left marked and my top google search suggestions all began with ‘synonym of-‘ it was safe to say I had placed a healthy focus on a field in need, and the results of improved grades and classmates approval began to pour in.
When writing something that draws passion is an easy way to keep focus, but maintaining concentration on a subject that hasn’t yet acquired your interest is a whole other ball game. I would often put minimal effort into situations like this, but after learning how to relate a topic to myself and add descriptive language, I found myself gaining interest in previously neglected topics and authoring much better papers for my professors and peers. In just my first year of college writing I had already taken colossal steps in the right directions, instating practices I had been working on my whole life and solidifying them, next year I hope to make a similar kind of progress.
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Draft revision
My debut into division I collegiate writing was one consisting of much more learning than triumph. The curriculum and class structure were atypical of my previous education, and the pace of the class progressed swifter than my high school writing classes. The Check, Please! lessons walked me through an enhanced version of the source validation methods I had been taught in the past, I’ve used the methods numerous times since and have found them to be very helpful. The Scrabble word-play-day provided a pleasurable and relaxing break from mind-numbing course work, and the leisurely fun of scrabble strengthened my vocabulary and spelling skills. Through these activities I was able to take massive strides in my writing, particularly in my research papers, in a way that was new and refreshing from my past education.
Coming into my first semester of college, I struggled initially writing papers and abruptly realized I hadn’t actually written a proper research paper throughout highschool. I had been getting away with my corner-cutting tactics of limited revisions, inaccurate and falsley cited sourced, poor structure and an overall lackadaisical approach to writing research papers. I neglected commitment to my work until I was engulfed in the consequences, I started off the year with substandard grades on a handful of writing assignments, leaving me regretful of how I had planned my assignments and articulated my thoughts, in addition to this, the introduction of blogs also greatly shaped my writing, the pressure of fitting a rubric and writing to satisfy a teacher had already proven to be one I struggled with in the past, but with the addition of submitting my work to be critiqued by class mates, I found myself coerced into writing articles with more interesting content, proper structures, and a more sophisticated vocabulary in the hopes my classmates wouldn’t write my work off as dull or uninteresting. This pressure ended up being a necessary push in the right direction of my writing.
Aside from the linguistics of my papers, I also discovred through the Check, Please! and integrating quotations assignments that I had been consistantly using inaccurate sources for research and inputting them as erroneously quoted citations. This was an stiff slap to the face that only stung worse as I progressed through each lesson. As I clicked through the slides and articles I was exposed to the proper techniques when determining a source’s credibility, some of which I had a fraction of covered in high school, and others that were unheard of to me. False information can determine the content of an essay, and the feeling of realizing you’ve conducted an entire research paper defending false or inaccurate points is flustering and cringeworthy. Prior to completing my Check, Please! and integrating quotations lessons, I frequently botched in text quotations, had never checked a footnote of an article, and inherently used common sense as a method to dictate the legitimacy of an article. The Check, Please! Methods have proven to be very useful to me and I regularly use them to verify my sources, steering clear of government regulated
media and adding wikipedia when I need to. I routinely check the footnotes now and always remember to keep the period after the parentheses when making in text quotations, my new arsenal is full of small skills like this and more that I acquired from the Check, Please! lessons and the integrating quotations lesson.The constant wear and tear of course papers and reading lessons can burn a student out, but our weekly wordplay day was a gratifying and educational way to alleviate the stress weighed on us from all our classes. Waking up on a Friday morning and dedicating an entire period to board games with my peers is a relaxing, mellow way to start out my day, and with the added educational and grading benefits of participating in the game, I was able to translate my enjoyment into the gradebook. My vocabulary broadened in course work and every day conversation while the fast pace of the game sharpened my critical thinking and team work skills. The added motivation of receiving a grade for my preformance pushed me to seek out more intriguing and sophisticated words, and it ensured I wouldn’t try to cut any corners on the way to garuntee a satisfactory grade. Of all the activities and lessons I took part in this semester, word play day was certainly the most pleasurable.
My first semester in a college writing course exponentially helped shape me as a writer, authoring far more interesting and intriguing papers than beforehand. Thanks to my in and out of class activities such as my Check, Please! lessons, integrating quotations activity, and of course, Scrabble word play day, I was able to apply the skills I had acquired in my writing, and the results were much better papers overall.
Works cited
“Writing Analytically Rosenwasser 6th Edition PDF.” Writing Analytically Rosenwasser 6th Edition Pdf, https://kyzywipyragubi.caninariojana.com/writing-analytically-rosenwasser-6th-edition-pdf-46433qk.html.
“The All-in-One Workspace for Your Notes, Tasks, Wikis, and Databases.” Notion, https://www.notion.so/Lesson-Three-Further-Investigation-8a8666ba731f48cc9a4a30f9db799f53.
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Forced to write
Matt Richter’s “Blogs Vs. Term Papers” focuses on the growing phenomenon to replace traditional writing papers for blog posts, and detailing the differences in the two in terms of interest and impact to students. The article explores both sides of the argument and prepares an educated argument for either side, but despite the stance taken by Fitzhugh and and the evidence provided in favor of term papers, blogs and more modern alternatives like the ones discussed by Lunsford and Davidson appear to be enjoyed more by students and have a much bigger impact.
Proffessor Lunsford provided the most evidence in favor of blogs and studied her students’ as well as other students’ work to form the conclusion that blog posts simply satisfy the students more, and the feeling and benefit of posting these blogs go further than a grade, students can receive immediate feedback from peers and can be praised for their intriguing work. The thought that people will actually be interested in what you write carries more weight than a simple grade, and will motivate students to create their best work. I found Lunsford’s findings the most crucial as she focused on what students like and respond well to, instead of bringing up taxes and traditional writing like Mr. Fitzhugh, whose beliefs oppose Lunsford and Davidson. Fitzhugh believes, like the others, that writing is dying, but his solution instead of replacing it is saving it. Fitzhugh’s ‘page a year’ system has students writing research papers starting with one page in first grade and making their way up, Fitzhugh (daddy pig) wants to maintain tradition and keep term papers, Davidson (mommy pig) believes they should be scrapped all together, and Lunsford (baby pig) believes there should be a balance between the two, to maintain the tradition of term papers while also applying it to the real world and more modern technology.
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Hello World!
Welcome to WordPress! This is your first post. Edit or delete it to take the first step in your blogging journey.
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Kung fu Kenny
My name is Kenny, I’m from Virginia Beach, I’m 19 years old and I love music, wakeboarding, and kickboxing. I’ve been training since I was a kid and am 2-0 at the moment at 125 pounds. My goal one day is to fight professionally and have a sponsorship deal with Ledo pizza where I can get unlimited boxes delivered to my house, I named my pet Gecko Ledo in anticipation of this. Kickboxing has been an amazing outlet in my life and has always allowed me to truly be myself, I’m thankful for the lessons I’ve learned and the person it’s shaped me into. One day I’d like to open up my own gym so I can hopefully effect people’s lives in the same way mine has been effected, and I will make all my students call me Master Yoda.
me after my most recent fight in Apex, North Carolina
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