Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!uunet!crdgw1!gecrdvm1!gipp From: GIPP@gecrdvm1.crd.ge.com Newsgroups: sci.space Subject: Re: Mir Sweepstakes Organizers Arrested Message-ID: <91038.075241GIPP@GECRDVM1.BITNET> Date: 7 Feb 91 11:52:41 GMT References: Organization: General Electric Corporate Research & Development Lines: 36 In article , 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 >______________________________________________________________________________ >_