Big Gambling has taken over the gambling debate, silencing most gambling critics. The policy fight these days is mostly taken up by competing gambling interests. That’s the takeaway from this story detailing the debate over legalizing Internet gambling in California.

Instead, of discussing the pros and cons of Internet gambling, the debate is about which gambling interests – casinos, racetrack, Indian gambling and state vs. federal governments - will get a piece of the pie. The feeling now is that legalizing Internet gambling is more a matter of when, not if.

Lost in the debate is how gambling is a bad public policy that preys on the most vulnerable and leads to an increase in a variety of social ills. The need of governments to raise revenue without raising taxes is prompting lawmakers to turn to gambling. Never mind that government can’t gamble its way out of financial trouble, just like individuals can’t.

The upshot is that gambling will march on, spreading across the country in different forms like a cancer. Legalizing Internet gambling could be the most devastating policy change. It will open the floodgates and enable everyone to gamble from home or their mobile phone, leading to even more social problems and leaving many more people even deeper in debt all in the name of a quick buck. Never mind that people can and do gamble illegally on the Internet. Once the government makes it legal, it will legitimize a bad idea, which will spur many more people to give it a try.