The ban on online casino gambling, which was made into law a few months ago and is actively being implemented by the United States law enforcement authorities has won itself yet another critic. This time, the issue was being discussed over the pages of the leading daily The Los Angeles Times, not at another inside industry publication. Online casino companies can feel encouraged by the tone that the editorial published in the Times has taken to address the policy of banning and outlawing online gambling.

Arguing that there are better causes to invest effort, personnel and funds towards, the editorial said the efforts of prosecuting online casino operations in the US is unwise. Tax money that could have been collected during the past two weeks alone, as $5 billion were being bet at online casino sports betting sites over the outcome of the Super Bowl match between the Chicago Bears and Indianapolis Colts, could have helped in fighting the real social ills of gang violence and the national threat of a terror attack. Prosecuting morality at the online casino industry instead is futile.

Furthermore, the online casino ban, it is implied in the editorial, will push the gamblers closer into the arms of criminal elements, the “Sopranos” of the industry. A non-regulated industry that rolls such enormous sums of money is prime for mafia and organized crime organizations to take over. Online casino gamblers, meanwhile, who will still be looking for an online bookie to place a bet with, will have no choice than to engage with these criminals. Regulating the industry, rather than fighting it blindly, is the course to take.