Attn Florida gamers.. bonus rolls now illegal

[Slickrock]

So, you live in Florida? You play WoW from there? You do bonus rolls in LFR or in regular raids?

Well, your bonus rolls are certainly illegal, and your computer now might be as well too.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/09/tech/gami ... ?hpt=hp_t3

[Lisaara]

Excuse me...

*falls in the floor, rolling around, laughing her ass off*

[Lupis]

*Casually joins Junrei*

[AdamSavage]

That's pretty funny!

[Slickrock]

Heck, the bonus rolls even show that little dice icon.. that's certainly gambling... (and worse odds than Vegas I might add...)

[Lisaara]

Totally. *is still trying to stifle her laughter...and is failing miserably.*

[Makoes]

...wow...just...wow...

[Sesamee]

Arcades and business with standalone gaming machines are being impacted as well, and more than 1,000 Internet cafes have already been shut down under the new law, according to the Tampa Bay Times.

Way to make the economy and job situation just a little bit worse, FL Legislature. This is why people should not vote for or reelect stupid politicians.

[Takanuka]

Rofl this would be good trade chat material. Arrest all them lucky people that get loot from the extra rolls! And slap the hands of those that got nothing for trying it.

[Anyia]

...wow...just...wow...

No no, this extends way beyond WoW

[Lisaara]

...wow...just...wow...

No no, this extends way beyond WoW

*gigglesnort* I see what you did there. Clever.

[Myrrmi]

Oh my... what...? /joins the rofling crowd

[cowmuflage]

Oh America and your laws they always are good for a giggle

[Lisaara]

Ironically cow...this isn't the most derp law thats been passed.

[Irijia]

Hello all, I had to register to weigh in on this. I wanted to add some clarification as to why this law was passed in the first place. I live in Florida and my husband regularly comes across the people who run these cafés because he is in the amusement industry. It is a fact that the law is currently too broad but please understand that the reason why it was passed in the first place is because ALL of the internet "sweepstakes" cafés had been exploiting a loophole in the previous law which we fondly call the Chuck-E-Cheese Law. The same law that allowed children and other redemption type games in Florida was being purposely exploited in order to drain the elderly of their funds.

There is a massive number of retirees and others on a fixed income who were losing all of their money to these internet cafés. It was so bad that at one point, you had 150-200 machine cafés and they were all over the place. There was also a massive amount of corruption going on around them, my husband personally knows of cafes that were owned by such prominent members of society such as city councilmen, police chiefs and, in one case, the entire fire department of a small town in Florida.

While I agree that the law is too broad, it is far better for the purpose of protecting people than what we had before.

[Anyia]

While some loop-hole closing might have been needed, it doesn't warrant turning just about everyone into a criminal. Of course, for any government it is beneficial to have every person be a criminal in the eye of the law, as that helps keep the government in power since anyone who disagrees with said government can now be targeted for prosecution until they shut up. Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Expecting governments to behave differently is ignoring human nature and history. Or, as someone said a bit more poetically - the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

[Irijia]

Of course nothing warrants everyone being viewed as a criminal and no one is arguing that the law, as-is, is poorly written but it also doesn't change the fact that there was a huge problem with the internet cafés. I think it needs to be properly reworked to not be so broad. That said, if the argument is that such laws treat everyone as a criminal, which is unfair, then what do you propose as an alternative?

[Bulletdance]

Of course nothing warrants everyone being viewed as a criminal and no one is arguing that the law, as-is, is poorly written but it also doesn't change the fact that there was a huge problem with the internet cafés. I think it needs to be properly reworked to not be so broad. That said, if the argument is that such laws treat everyone as a criminal, which is unfair, then what do you propose as an alternative?

I likely don't have a good enough grasp on the situation,but to be honest to me it seems like the problem could have been handled by limiting the amount of money people are allowed to spend in such places before it is considered illegal gambling and the establishments could be responsible for keeping track electronically of their clients spending through use of something like ID cards and then have to submit that information to the government. I would love for a law to come in to place to prevent real money gambling through means of games from targeting and advertising to children. Bye bye facebook good riddance, but the fact of the matter is the government is so full of cronies who get paid to do what the big businesses want it's a joke. This though is a trivial thing compared to what else is going on. It's illegal now to go in to places like farms and puppy mills and take footage of animal abuse to show the public and no one seemed to notice. Why? Because the farming industry lobbied for it and won.

[Irijia]

I likely don't have a good enough grasp on the situation,but to be honest to me it seems like the problem could have been handled by limiting the amount of money people are allowed to spend in such places before it is considered illegal gambling and the establishments could be responsible for keeping track electronically of their clients spending through use of something like ID cards and then have to submit that information to the government. I would love for a law to come in to place to prevent real money gambling through means of games from targeting and advertising to children. Bye bye facebook good riddance, but the fact of the matter is the government is so full of cronies who get paid to do what the big businesses want it's a joke. This though is a trivial thing compared to what else is going on. It's illegal now to go in to places like farms and puppy mills and take footage of animal abuse to show the public and no one seemed to notice. Why? Because the farming industry lobbied for it and won.

Problem is they were getting around the law by offering things like gift cards and the like instead of actual cash prizes. They'd have Walmart or Visa cards that were loaded with X amount of money instead of offering actual money, hence the abuse of the Chuck-E-Cheese law. I can see a person running one of these cafes purchasing a certain number of cards in a certain amount then crying broke or fudging the numbers to make it seem like they aren't making as much as they say they are. I think a tracking system would be nice but in Florida, unless it's one of the riverboat cruises, all gambling is pretty much illegal and how much personal info would be turned over to the people running these places? Believe or not, in the amusement industry, the ratio of honest men to scum is extremely high in favor of the scum.

[Boven]

While there was good intent behind the law, it's an example of poorly constructed legislation. It's not just bonus rolls in raids. Under the very broad wording of the law, simply owning and/or using a computer or cellphone could be considered illegal.