yamauchi@cs.rochester.edu (Brian Yamauchi) (02/07/91)
According to a UPI story on Clarinet (clari.tw.space), the organizers of the Mir Sweepstakes were arrested today (2/6) and charged with running an illegal lottery by the local DA. This is a felony charge which carries a penalty of 2-10 years in prison. There is a truly mind-boggling level of hypocrisy involved when state governments can put people in jail for "promoting gambling" through lotteries at the same time that state governments themselves are running lotteries. I don't know whether Texas has a state lottery, but New York does -- maybe someone should arrest Cuomo and toss him in jail... It's sadly ironic that the project to launch Americans on a Soviet rocket was not stopped by the totalitarian oppression of the Soviet government, but by the that of American state and local governments. -- _______________________________________________________________________________ Brian Yamauchi University of Rochester yamauchi@cs.rochester.edu Department of Computer Science _______________________________________________________________________________
GIPP@gecrdvm1.crd.ge.com (02/07/91)
In article <YAMAUCHI.91Feb6174117@heron.cs.rochester.edu>, yamauchi@cs.rochester.edu (Brian Yamauchi) says: > >According to a UPI story on Clarinet (clari.tw.space), the organizers >of the Mir Sweepstakes were arrested today (2/6) and charged with >running an illegal lottery by the local DA. This is a felony charge >which carries a penalty of 2-10 years in prison. > >There is a truly mind-boggling level of hypocrisy involved when state >governments can put people in jail for "promoting gambling" through >lotteries at the same time that state governments themselves are >running lotteries. I don't know whether Texas has a state lottery, >but New York does -- maybe someone should arrest Cuomo and toss him in >jail... even worse than the lottery is the fact that churches and firehouses can run gambling joints in the name of "fund raising" in NY. I went to a charity dinner the other night and was amazed with the set up of Blackjack tables, Birdcage (something like craps) and the spinning wheel (just like on wheel of fortune-only smaller prizes): one space even had the US flag paying the highest odds. Sad. > >It's sadly ironic that the project to launch Americans on a Soviet >rocket was not stopped by the totalitarian oppression of the Soviet >government, but by the that of American state and local governments. >-- >______________________________________________________________________________ >_ > >Brian Yamauchi University of Rochester >yamauchi@cs.rochester.edu Department of Computer Science >______________________________________________________________________________ >_