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Another Casino Gambling Law Seeks to Deputize Private Business
AUGUSTA, MAINE --
Despite the obvious example of the UIGEA as what can wrong when law enforcement is made the job of private companies, Maine legislators seem determined to repeat the error. This time it's casino gambling venues that are being cast as enforcers of a new "Deadbeat Dad" law.
Maine already has a law that instructs lottery officials to withhold winnings from players who owe back child support. Lawmakers felt the process should be broadened to include state casinos.
"People who are gambling and winning and are in arrears on their child support should have those gambling winnings given over to their children," said state Senator Deborah Simpson.
But the lottery is run by a government agency, and casinos are private enterprises. A lobbyist for Scarborough Downs said, "This bill crosses the line when it asks a private citizen to confront a debtor and withhold monies that the debtor believes rightfully belongs to them."
Government drafting of private enterprise to act as interpreters and enforcers of law has recently caused much embarrassment. The UIGEA made banks and credit companies the de facto determiners of which transactions constituted illegal gambling.
The result has been the wholesale blockage of legal lottery sales in New Hampshire and North Dakota.
While many support the cause of collecting support for children, wise voices cite the need to find a better solution. The director of the agency that handles child support problems in Maine, Barbara van Burgel, said, "We would suggest the committee provide us the time to work with all the parties to come up with a mechanism."
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