Skill Shouldn’t Matter #butfreedom

Note (Nov 2026): I used to swear a lot more in casual speech. Shortly before my first child was born, I read Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters, which inspired me to clean up my language. I rarely swear now. I left this essay untouched because editing it now would feel disingenuous; this is how my younger self talked.

I am told that I am a free human being so I do not feel unreasonable desiring to use my money however I please whether it involves gambling or skill games or burying it in a coffee can in the ground or using it to wallpaper my living room.

I’ll use my money how I please, effectively casting votes with my dollars for where I want my dollars to go, and you can spend your money how you please.

Simple enough, right?!

It’s not! In 2011, the ability to play poker online on major US sites was taken away, and now in 2016 we are seeing the same thing happen with DFS (daily fantasy sports) as certain politicians are latching on to this idea that free Americans are not free to play DFS.

Throughout all of this nonsense the thing I cannot stand the most is the bullshit about activities like DFS & poker need to be banned because they are not “games of skill” but rather “games of chance”. Not only is this a flat-out lie (both are quantifiable games of skill) but it should not matter because THE NONSENSE COMES FROM THE POLITICIANS WHO ALL HAVE INTERESTS IN THEIR STATE & MULTI-STATE LOTTERIES THAT ARE EXACTLY GAMES OF CHANCE! (and shitty chances to boot!)

For fuck’s sake, the multi-state Powerball lottery was just recently over $1 billion dollars (that’s billion, with a “B“) in which the odds of winning were some 292 million:1 against and where the winners will fork over some > 30% of their winnings to Uncle Sam, for doing jack shit. Then these same fucking politicians actually have the gall to declare poker and daily fantasy as evil incarnate as they line their pockets with game of chance lottery tax proceeds.

FUCK YOU.

What a sad state of affairs.