US House panel approves bill to ban cyber-gambling
 

http://today.reuters.com/news/articl...S-GAMBLING.xml


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee on Wednesday approved a bill that would ban Internet gambling, estimated to be a $12 billion industry.

The legislation would update and expand an existing federal law to cover all forms of interstate gambling within the United States, and would bar a gambling business from accepting payment in the form of credit cards, checks, wire and Internet transfers. It would also prohibit gambling on an estimated 2,300 Internet gambling sites.

Shares of some British-based gaming companies fell on news that the bill had progressed another step. PartyGaming Plc and 888 Holdings tumbled about 5 percent each on the London Stock Exchange.

The bill was approved on a voice vote by the House Judiciary subcommittee on crime. It will go to the full committee for consideration.

However, it remains unclear whether the legislation will reach floor votes in the House and Senate. Congress has a relatively short schedule this year because of the November congressional elections.

"Virtual betting parlors have attempted to avoid the application of United States law by locating themselves offshore and out of our jurisdictional reach," said Rep. Bob Goodlatte, a Virginia Republican who wrote the bill. The offshore companies use Internet sites that are "unlicensed, untaxed and unregulated," he said.

Under U.S. law, interstate gambling over telephone wires is illegal and other gambling is banned unless regulated by the states.

:Oh crap

Would there possibly be any other outcome?

American public - must be controlled - turn on machine - make people do what we want..

A-S-T

.

That would suck.... I sure hope it get's voted down.

Freedom ... such an exquisite scent .... :1orglaugh :1orglaugh :1orglaugh

Gawd they never stop.

Do these people actually get paid and do they have *any* sense of priorities?

They'll be debating a law on protecting the public from fresh air - the day before the country declares bankruptcy.

Any backing for a bill on making it a criminal offense for politicians to waste time?

See highlighted above for the true reason.

:disgust

And this is utter garbage - the asshole don't even know what he's talking about.

Offshore jurisdictions normally have gambling permits (that means they pay govts money) and rules to comply with while operating in whatever "offshore".

The fact that they may not pay taxes was never illegal :1orglaugh :1orglaugh Only the US think it is.

Asshole!

I've said it all along, that the govt doesn't have to come up with new rules and laws to put specific groups on the internet out of business. It's very simple they only have to attack the billing companies.

Looks like that's exactly what they have done..

People are using U.S. based ISP to access the sites. They have a pretty good argument. If they don't...you'll see the checks and balances kick in and the Supreme Court might hear the case.

They reversed the ban on Ephedra....

same thing happening to porn is probably coming soon too...

That has nothing to do with whether offshore or any other casino is licensed, pays taxes or anything else.

Considering the state of the country at this time - it's totally absurd to be talking shit over casino operations when they can't even pay the fucking daily bills and keep borrowing (approx) 2-4 billion from the Central Bank of China on a daily basis and most the the population screwed by Katrina are still without homes.

This is got to be the worst prime example of living in lala land ever.

PS.. My "rant" is not really over casinos - it's just the total absurdity of the wasting time debating whether citizens can gamble when the place is a shithouse.

What makes you think that any significant time is devoted to this? As far as I see this is 1 of 500 other bills that were "debated" this week.

I think this might work out well if the fix it correctly.

It could force these companies to set up in the U.S where the gov can make some money on the $12 billion industry.

Does it matter how much time is spent on it - it still costs money to talk and draft legislation? Have a look at the garbage they do discuss - most is utter crap and even less gets near being law.

It may be wiser if some attention was directed to addressing the main problems than trivia - minor stuff like the economy, healthcare, constant trade deficits ad nausea.

It's just painful to watch this stuff - I got no doubts whatsoever the end result will cause some lifestyle changes and hardship - all because of ineptitude. Sad shit woj!

Sheesh.. you think that is what they would like?? :winkwink: The chances of that happening are a million to one.

Not sure which side you are "referring" to by they.

Im sure the governemnt would love to impose taxes on a $12 billion industry from which they do nt see a penny.

The truth is the US actually decided to stop net gambling originally. The result of that was that, (ignoring offshore of a moment) gambling operations set up in other countries and in a number of these countries - they bent over backwards to accomodate gambling operations.

Now that net gambling is established and developing in those jurisdictions, it "may" be the US is now more concerned about the money they lost. It may be some of the larger gambling ops will end up with some form of base in the US, but more lightly stay outside US jurisdiction simply because of the fickle whims.

A number of offshore operations are run by US citizens in some form - they sure as hell are not going to give up their businesses to relocate in the US again.

Does the US really have control over world wide banking? Thus the power to enforce any law that comes out of the bill?

Sorry.. "they" being the govt you referred to.

Sure.. who wouldn't! :winkwink:

You are missing one detail, if online gambling completley disapears US customers will save $12 Billion... then they will take that saved money, and spend it on a new ipod, new clothes or some other stuff... now the catch is, all those purchases will be taxed = more money for the goverment...

For example, daddy pisses away $200 playing poker one night (not taxed - $0 for the goverment), and now he can't afford to buy his son the $200 bike he wanted (taxed - $15 for the government)

Na... there is obviously a percentage they can control - and do, but US gamblers know how to pay without hitting financial records in the US. :winkwink:

This is almost like 2257 in a way - effective within the US, but pointless elsewhere.

So why the hell did they kick out off shore ... ????

Payback to political friends ...

This didn't start yesterday ...

im confused... most or all internet gambling sites arent located in US jurisdictions. I know you can go after the billing companies, but wouldnt it be fairly easy for these sites to get around that... i mean lots of illegal companies and scams can figure out how to charge cc's, why cant casinos?

and on an ISP level, you would have to block gambling websites... getting the government into the practice of filtering the internet. seems like a slippery slope!

I wish the gov & bush would deal with real problems like our huge national debt, Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, North Korea, education, health, etc...

why they care about middle class guys spending a few hours gambling on their computers seems like wasted time and political pandering

But can they enforce this?

When you can't solve the big problems...make a big deal about the little ethical ones.

what a waste of tax dollars

Dunno df, but it may be a continuation of a WTO dispute where Antigua lodged a WTO complaint against the US in prohibited gambling transactions to other countries - specifically Antigua. The govt of Antigua won in that case and it was judged to be unacceptable restriction of trade.

Tho I seriously doubt the proposer of this new bill has a clue on any of this.

That's exactly it Young - seems almost a total diversion from doing anything of meaning and getting more relevant stuff sorted out. Kinda sad.

Sorry woj.. missed your post and totally agree!

I'm not a gambling fan and think it's a total waste of time and money. The flip side is, it's up to people spending their money how they spend it. The govt has already collected personal taxation on this already. Another side is.. sure, gambling like all "vices" can cause harm with a group of addicts.

The other point is ... where are iPods, bike components and completed products coming from? Dunno where Apple claim the country of manufacture is - but there sure are lots of suppliers of ipod "bits" in mainland China, Taiwan and elsewhere in that region. I've never seen one manufacturer of components in the US yet on a Google search. This may sound good and is better than wasting money on gambling, but suggests an even bigger national deficit in the background than any taxes the government may collect.

Just smell one of the major problems is balance of trade, even more than any issues over gambling. That 12 billion hopefully "saved" is only 3 or 4 days worth of borrowings from the Bank of China. And.. last I heard, the China daily borrowings were around 24% percent of the total - the rest being borrowed from other countries.

Kinda makes ya wonder what is more relevant :winkwink: