College Tries to Block Students Access to Gambling Sites

College Tries to Block Students Access to Gambling Sites/ September 2006
A debate has erupted in a Pennsylvania University over whether students should have access to online gambling sites or not.

DeSales University in Center Valley hosted the ninety minute forum to give both students and faculty a chance to discuss the whole online gambling issue and whether it is in the students best interests to have online gambling sites completely blocked.

The debate follows the case of Greg Hogan Jr. a former sophomore class president who was sentenced to a jail term after committing armed robbery at a bank to cover a huge debt when he began wagering in gambling sites.

The debate panel was represented mainly by anti gambling proponents and seemed to support the idea of blocking students from visiting gambling sites. Greg Hogan Sr. was also present as a speaker to talk of his son's situation and to fight the corner that strict regulations should be put on students to ban internet gambling sites on campus. The most important comment came from the DeSales President the Rev. Bernard O'Connor who was adamantly against the prohibition of online gambling.

The students argued their case that they should be free to make their choices as adults and if they want to spend their time playing poker online then so be it. They debated that there were several examples of students who have made a good living from playing poker on gambling sites and have even made money to help cover their tuition fees. This fact aside, the student body put forward their point that the main issue at stake was the intellectual diversity and individual freedom of choice. Students should be treated like adults and be allowed to choose how they spend their free time, whether it be gambling online or looking at pornography.

By the end of the debate the outcome emerged as the student body argued that if the decision was made to block all students' access to online gambling sites, then they would fight that decision tooth and nail to the end.