tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20274437.post7262746318282486924..comments2008-02-25T21:55:37.748ZIainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07249331216466329232noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20274437.post-76894159290122530602008-02-25T21:55:00.000Z2008-02-25T21:55:00.000ZThe real problem with this debate is the word casino. The licences on offer to local authorities who have bid for them are nothing more than glorified betting shops that might offer a 106 agreement in return for the licence.<BR/><BR/>These betting shops will be filled with video roulette machines made permissable under the new Gambling Act, rather than real roulette wheels and card tables. The punters won't be dressed in dinner jackets and ball gowns having just stepped out of their Aston Martins. This is low roller land with addictive machines that leave nothing to chance.<BR/><BR/>It is licence not liberty that lies behind the Gambling Act of 2005 and Liberals shouldn't confuse one for the other.<BR/><BR/>Don't kid yourselves that this has anything to do with political inconsistency on our part as liberals. It has everything to do with the bankcruptcy of a Labour Government that looks to gambling to fill the tax void, and to hell with the social consequences, while desperate under-funded and powerless local authorities prostitute themseves for the right to issue a licence.Adrian Sanderswww.adriansanders.orgnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20274437.post-26220853511486290052008-02-25T14:30:00.000Z2008-02-25T14:30:00.000ZPersonally I don't think it is up to government to prevent people throwing their money away. The big thing about the super-casino idea that irked me and I found extremely illiberal, in the economic sense, was that it was going to be a state created and protected monopoly. They were only going to allow one super-casino. They were handing super-normal profits to some American gambling tycoon. Of course it should be down to local authorities to decide whether they want casinos on their patch and if so what size and how many. But to herald that new enlightened policy by creating a protected monopoly was just wrong on so many levels!Jock Coatshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15550558005508328017noreply@blogger.com