The legacy of prohibition suggests history is on gambling’s side

Great read here on the ill-fated history of attempts by various do-gooders to ban the consumption of alcohol in the U.S., how and why their efforts ultimately failed, and why no sane individual nowadays would suggest that this movement had any association with common sense. Interesting parallels can be drawn between Carry Nation (pictured at left), the temperance (emphasis on temper) lady who traveled from saloon to saloon smashing shit with a hatchet, and those nutty Aussies out to hammer video poker machines into scrap metal.

Bottom line? Online gambling prohibition will one day seem as quaint and nonsensical as this quote from anti-alcohol campaigner Billy Sunday, on his vision of exactly what a booze-free America would resemble: “The slums will soon be only a memory. We will turn our prisons into factories and our jails into storehouses. Men will walk upright now, women will smile, and the children will laugh.” Yeah, the kids aren’t the only ones laughing. Read more.