The Wall Street Journal had an article on Tuesday (31 October) entitled "Despite Crackdown, Online Gamblers Aren't Ready to Fold" by Christina Binkley and Jessica E. Vascellaro. To summarize, despite the latest legislative attempts by the federal government, it is most certain that online gambling will continue to thrive no matter what the federal government does.

It is fun to watch politicians trying to get on the "right" side of the issue. For example take Senator Bill Frist (Rep. of Tennessee). He wants to run for president in 2008. He has decided that he will appeal more to the right wing of his party by being the leader in the Senate that is opposed to online gambling. If one knows football, and one knows Tennesseans, one knows for sure that the Senator is probably a big fan of the Vols - the University of Tennessee football team. Or perhaps he is a big fan of the Commodores - the Vanderbilt Univeristy football team. And perhaps he is a big fan of the professional football team the Tennessee Titans? Odds are (no pun intended) that the good Senator has made many wagers over the years on point spreads on one of these three teams or at least bet with friends on the outcome of games. Of course we will never find out because the pious Senator Bill wants to appeal to a set of voters that he perceives to be anti-online gambling.

And beyond Senator Frist, I would wager that 80 percent of the 100 United States Senate has wagered and does wager on football games including the Super Bowl.

My point is that gambling is no different than alcohol. Most Senators drink and most Senators bet. The USA tried to prohibit alcohol in the 1920s and 30s and failed miserably. The same is about to happen with online gambling.