Internet Gambling Ban
 

They have nothing better todo.

House panel approves Internet gambling ban

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S.
House Judiciary Committee approved legislation on Thursday aimed at banning Internet gambling, an estimated $12 billion industry.

The measure would update and expand existing law to cover all forms of interstate gambling in 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, many run by offshore companies, and also require banks to block gambling transactions by customers, which the industry has argued would be difficult to identify.

Despite the committee's approval, 25-11, it remains unclear whether the legislation will reach floor votes in the House and Senate this year. Congress has a relatively few work days left in 2006 because of the November congressional elections.

"The legislation is badly needed because ... the amount of money going to these illegal unregulated offshore enterprises has quadrupled" in the past few years, said Rep. Bob Goodlatte (news, bio, voting record), the author of the legislation and a Virginia Republican.

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

"In the United States, gambling is essentially illegal unless regulated by the states. This is a measure to work through that to make sure that the states are indeed protected in their right to continue to regulate gambling," Goodlatte said.

Some Democrats objected to the measure. They said it would do little to prevent underage gambling and it unfairly placed a regulatory burden on local banks to comply.

"I believe there are more effective Internet gambling regulatory approaches," said Virginia Democrat Bobby Scott.

The poker industry, which has exploded in recent years, argued that the bill unfairly targets its game while legalizing online betting for horse racing, Internet lotteries and certain fantasy sports.

"If games of chance are given a free pass in this bill, it makes no sense that a skill game like poker should be banned. Congress should not be picking online winners and losers," said Poker Players Alliance president Michael Bolcerek.

so fucking stupid. If the gov was smart they would allow more gambline and collect more in taxes both as a country and at the state level.

Your absolutely correct.
Then instead of every gaming site being located in either London, Costa Rica or another offshore place - pretty much most of them would setup shop back in the states.

The goverment is stupid..what just because they say so..no one should be allowed to gamble their own money. Porn will be next, followed by booze.....

The good thing is that it will probably not get past the Senate side.

Anybody gambling (not betting) online is a tool ... it's too easy to set things up.

Not true. Of course like every type of business there are the good and bad ones. Just look at some of the drama that is on GFY sometimes.

We work with books that have been around and been doing business for 10+ years.

That's pretty stupid

This shit pisses me off. Horse racing is ok but poker is not...you know this is being pushed because of the poker craze that's going on. Casinos and racing tracks are probably feeling the reduction in revenue so they lobby the legislators to pass this type of shit.

thats just fucked up :( :(

get a clue.
Las Vegas has deeper pockets than you.
they bride Congress better than you.

They bride?
http://www.creativeimagesbycal.com/images/bride.jpg

Its a question of who contributes more to Congress, the domestic gambling companies or the offshore companies.

AC and Vegas, companies want to protect their turf and have been spending a ton of dollars on lobbyists.

The offshore companies have just been saying fuck you, instead of being smart and paying the piper.

The problem is that the online gaming market was never given an option of paying the piper.

From day #1, the Gov never got their shit together and layed out some win-win options.

Ya goodluck trying to enforce this.

you think Jack Abramoff went down for nothing?
lobby is just another word for bribe.

It will never get past the Senate. :2 cents:

Aint that the truth.

Even though I don't think it will ever pass,if online gaming is taking too large a chunk out of the overall gaming industry I'd agree that there needs to be a control.Casinos in the US employee many people,they pay taxes and spread the money around in a lot of support industries.They make significant investments in the local economies.

Ok - so they have 2 options.

1. Ban it from USA - and never have a % of the action.
2. Get logical about it - and open it up for being legal.

Its really amazing to me, the rest of the world is making online gaming legal because they realize that it will not just go away. Many of the largest companies are even public on the London stock exchange.
What the fuck is the US government thinking really??

The problem is they are completely blind about option #2.

You're preaching to the choir.I've done very well with online gaming over the years and would hate to see it go.
But the logic,is if it were banned in the US those people that are currently playing online would drift back to the local casinos or in some cases just give it up and find something else to do with their disposable income,like pay off their credit card debt. ;)

Yes agreed. The thing is that there will always be a way around what ever restriction that they put in place. Right now 95% of the biz that comes into our partner sportsbooks comes via non-online methods. Its going to be pretty hard for them to stop these methods.

Also, contact me I would be happy to work with you and your gaming traffic.

Just politicians looking for a bribe. Cut us in on your revenue or we threaten to ban you. Poker is all new money and the old dogs want their piece. All large corporations have to "lobby" the government. Thats just the way it works.