The Institute of Economic Affairs which is an influential UK right wing think tank has come out very strongly for increased liberalisation including for poker in pubs in their latest magazine, they are also holding an open panel in London tonight.

A sample article and the editorial are available here but I suspect many (especially the Engineer who shares a similar philosophy) may want to get hold of a copy of the whole magazine. The PPA may also want to contact some of the authors.

http://www.iea.org.uk/publications/e...ket-volume-311

the sample article is a succinct summary, not hugely innovative but it does point to the potential social and economic benefits of liberalised gambling and is strong in pointing out that increased access via the Internet has not increased problem gambling.

Anyway the editorial and article on line are interesting and will fit with many republicans, even if the IEA are not normally my cup of tea their case here is compelling.

From the footnotes of the article I also found this debate hosted by the economist on a motion to liberalise/legalise gambling. the link is here:

http://www.economist.com/debate/days/view/547

The debate is over several days, the best way to access it is to click on the calendar dates starting 20th July 2010, rading that then going to the 21st etc

The debate is with the Executive Director of stop predatory gambling who IMHO gets a bit of a slicking. Enjoy.