In “The Road to Serfdom,” Hayek suggests that laws should be crafted in such a manner that they apply to all people or groups of people evenly, such that the results cannot be foreseen, and which do not favor people or groups of people. Well, that’s a paraphrase, at least.

And I’m inclined to agree with this position.

So in light of that, did it come as a surprise to anyone that the stock value of the British gaming companies have dropped 60%+ since our lawmakers have hastily snuck an online gambling prohibition into a Port Security bill.

The writing was on the wall. This was a no-brainer. One of the affected firms had the following to say:

“[T]his legislation indicates Congressional intent to treat Internet gaming, whether sports-related or not, as illegal.”

The legislation, if enacted, “will make it practically impossible to provide U.S. residents with access to its real money poker and other real money gaming sites,” PartyGaming said. “If the president signs the act into law, the company will suspend all real money gaming business with U.S. residents.”

What precisely, this has to do with port security is a mystery. It’s just another instance of Leviathan excercising more and more control over that portion of the income it deems appropriate for us to keep.

The road to hell is paved with good intentions. But eliminating the ability of law-abiding citizens, the vast majority of whom are not criminals, are not problem-gamblers, etc., to partake in recreational activities with their money, that they earned, is a patently inappropriate use of the State’s coercive power.