The U.S. government’s ban on some forms of online gambling is costing American taxpayers a bundle of money, but the Bush administration won’t say how much, Michigan Messengerreports. The World Trade Organization ruled in December that the United States must compensate other countries for barring U.S. gamblers from off-shore gaming sites while allowing them to throw away money on U.S.-based sites. The payments, which may cost U.S. taxpayers millions (some say billions) of dollars, is classified, for reasons of "national security."
If I lost millions gambling, I wouldn’t want to talk about it either.