Play Poker In The Agora

Blogger Joshua Claybourne introduces Las Vegas-style gambling to his blogsite, In The Agora. The IU law student invites his readers to participate in a little online gambling action, "Love Poker?" Here's Claybourne's offer:

Thanks to a partnership with PartyPoker.com, ITA readers are entitled to a free $25 signup bonus when you deposit a minimum $50 with the site. Just click on the image to the left and use the bonus code "AGORA" when you sign up.

As a frequent poker player myself and a user of the site, I can attest to its superiority over other poker sites. It is, after all, the biggest poker website in the world. So if you like playing and want an additional $25, go here and get started. Remember to use the bonus code "AGORA".

Some of his readers aren't real hip on Claybourne's offer to join the game. Here's a sampling of some of the comments:

I'm kind of surprised about this affiliation myself.

Ethics and morality aside, the legality or illegality of on-line gambling has not been established. I'm a little surprised that ITA would endorse something where legality has not been clearly determined. Further, on-line gambling has been specifically outlawed by some states and some credit card companies won't accept charges because they are unsure whether it is a legal activity. This particular company owns no assets in the U.S. specifically for the purpose of skirting U.S. gambling laws. It is one thing for Josh or any other ITA writer to be involved in gambling as a personal decison. However, though it is their right to use ITA to promote gambling, I'm sorely disappointed that they are doing so. Problem on-line gambling has become a significant crisis for many college kids. I don't see that they need an extra push from Christian leaders.

Lest anyone think this is an easy way to make $25 (as I did, contemplating merely withdrawing my $75 after my initial deposit of $50), the free money comes with some pretty serious strings attached. I can't say that I completely understand the terms, but I can tell that there's a fair amount of risk required before you get your bonus.

. . . So, you have to wager $125 before you'll get your bonus $25.

Many of the chief owners of the outfit have had serious connections to online pornography. I just think people should know the type of people they are affiliating with. I'm still surprised that ITA wants to advance this cause, but it appears I'm not going to get an answer to my concerns, so I'll abandon this post and address it my own post.

Actually, on-line gambling is illegal in Indiana. See:IC 35-45-5-2 Unlawful gambling Sec. 2. (a) A person who knowingly or intentionally engages in gambling commits unlawful gambling.(b) Except as provided in subsection (c), unlawful gambling is a Class B misdemeanor.(c) An operator who knowingly or intentionally uses the Internet to engage in unlawful gambling:(1) in Indiana; or(2) with a person located in Indiana;commits a Class D felony.

Regardless of the rights and wrongs of online gambling I think you need to be careful running this alongside Adsense. The Adsense policies page states "Site may not include: Gambling or casino-related content." I'd say if nothing else you need to delete this post or ditch Adsense.

Advance Indiana can appreciate In The Agora's desire to make a little bit of money from its site. These blogsites aren't exactly money-makers, unless you are a big-time site like Americablog, Daily Kos or Redstate. For the record, AI has no revenues to date, and no--we don't get paid to blog certain points of view like a lot of other bloggers. But these online gambling sites are bad news all around, not to mention the legality of such operations. They make it just too easy for problem gamblers to feed their addiction, the operators are typically based off-shore and have little, if any oversight, and all that that implies.