July 8, 2010 (CAP News Wire) – In breaking news from North Carolina, the House of Representatives in that Southern American state have voted overwhelmingly to pass a new bill banning “Internet sweepstakes” businesses, which have cropped up over the past year and have raised the ire of local politicians. The bill had already been approved by the state’s Senate.
“The bill now goes to Gov. Perdue’s for her signature,” according to the state’s WBTC.com. “If, as expected, she approves it, it will become law December 1st.”
What’s this have to do with online casino affiliate marketing? Even though these Internet gambling businesses are not offering standard online casino games (as far as we know), the issue and controversy raised by banning these businesses is pretty much exactly the same as the controversy over the UIGEA — namely, that some forms of online gambling are legal, and others aren’t, and why don’t citizens themselves have more of a say over what kind of gambling is okay and what isn’t?
The anti-gambling bill was passed “in the same hall where another form of gambling, the North Carolina Education Lottery, was legalized just a few years ago,” writes the Gaston Gazette. “The hypocrisy is unmistakable.”
In other words, publicity for this online gaming censorship helps strengthen the cause of federal U.S. politicians trying to overturn the UIGEA.