Player-Run Casinos Banned in WoW: Virtual Mafiosos Unhappy

Gather a bunch of people in a public space and some shady hustler is going to try to make a buck off of them, but Blizzard's not going to stand for it in their World of Warcraft game. According to the official announcement released today "gambling in major cities using the /random command [is] no longer allowed in World of Warcraft."

Of course the casino operators are rather unhappy about this change. Some grumble about taking their illicit gambling operations underground where they can ply their marks with cheap swill and loose night elves. Player response to the change is generally positive, but a dialogue about government's role and how much regulation is too much has begun to emerge: libertarians protest, socialists rejoice.