Take online poker, for example. It's not illegal, so it doesn't fit (1), and as long as the deal is fair and there is no play outside the rules of the game, I'm not sure how it can be considered dishonest. So, how is it a racket by your own definition? I don't necessarily disagree with your points about productive vs non-productive work, but certainly games like poker have a function other than as a career to the exclusion of anything productive. Fletch
Actually, my understanding is that providing online gambling to US citizens is illegal... Just has not been enforced till now... While wagering is OK... or simply not enforcable in any way. http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/07/24/business/gamble.php As you can see from the article... The "British CEO" is in a Fort Worth prison. It's hard to imagine bigger trouble than being in a Texas prison. So it's illegal... #1. #2 may be a stretch depending on your moral compass... But superhuman efforts are made by ALL casinos... To use every Machiavellian trick in the book to take your money. Also... the integrity of offshore casinos is purely a leap of faith on the players part... Since they are beyond any legitimate legal system. There is endless corruption in the most highly regulated financial system in the world... The American financial markets that gave us Enron and Refco... Engineered by blue chip accounting firms, banks, and brokerages. One has to assume... That offshore gaming is far more corrupt than the US financial markets. I'm not against legalized gambling and prostitution... And I am not against legalizing hard drugs. An adult can shoot up and play poker while a hooker gives him a "massage". But this is the Ben Siegel/Meyer Lansky model of society. Other more responsible models... Require that the government regulate vice for the common good.