A LESSON ABOUT GOVERNMENT

A day after the Unlawful Internet Gambling Funding Prohibition Act (HR 556) was unanimously passed in the U.S. House of Representatives, Card Player's Online Poker News sent out a Special Bulletin explaining the details, history, and probable future outcome of this legislation. The bill outlaws usage of a credit card, electronic fund transfer or any other bank instrument to pay for Internet gambling. It also provides a vehicle requiring U.S. Internet service providers (ISPs) to block access to or pull advertising from offshore Web gambling sites.

By the time you receive this issue of OPN, the time for the Senate to review this legislation (also known as "the Leach bill") will have almost passed and the bill will certainly be defeated, as predicted. The Senate recessed last Thursday, and will reconvene briefly in November with no current plans to consider the Leach bill.

However, there have been some fascinating and noteworthy factors that were not originally known or reported. I explained in my last article that the legislation passed by way of a "voice vote" in an unusual proceeding requiring a suspension of the rules, meaning that it was voted on after 40 minutes of discussion and required a two-thirds majority to pass.

What was not originally known was that the sponsors of the bill knew they had fragile legislation, which likely would have been struck down with a full House, so they opted to have a limited afternoon debate instead of waiting for the evening call. It was put on the suspension calendar between a bill honoring a collegiate wrestler and another one congratulating the Oakland A's. It has been reported that the unanimous voice vote consisted of SEVEN members in the chamber!!! That is incredible!!! Remember those Civics classes? Try to remember just how many members there are in the House of Representatives or the Senate?

If you need a refresher course and want to read about it, get a quick lesson at

http://thomas.loc.gov/home/enactment/enactlawtoc.html . If you want a detailed review of how laws are made, go to

http://www.wcu.edu/library/research/govdocs/legihist/process.htm .

Article I, Section 1, of the United States Constitution states that all legislative powers, that is, powers to make laws, resides in Congress. Congress consists of the House and the Senate. Whereas the Senate consists of 100 members who serve six-year terms, the House of Representatives has 435 members who serve only two-year terms, which isn't a lot of time to make a name for oneself . Representative Leach's name is now better known.

Think about it. This bill passed because it received support from seven members out of 435 members. This is precisely why we have a system of government where a bill must pass the House, the Senate and then be approved by the President.

There are a few highlights surrounding the bill that might interest you. On September 27, 2002 , Congressman John Conyers Jr. and Bobbie Scott wrote a letter to House Minority Leader Gephardt objecting to the Bill being placed on the suspension calendar. Rule XV, which allows a matter to be placed on the suspension calendar, is usually reserved for non-controversial matters. Conyers objected to HR 556 being placed on this calendar because the bill is controversial and deserves full debate. (See the letter at http://www.house.gov/judiciary_democrats/gephardthr556ltr92702.pdf .)

Since this legislation would affect millions of consumers and items on the suspension calendar are voted on without amendment, Conyers urged Gephardt to immediately contact Speaker Hastert and inform him that the legislation was not an appropriate candidate for the suspension calendar. Conyers also told Gephardt that since this legislation had little to no likelihood to even be considered by the Senate in the closing days of this session, passage under suspension would do no more than provide a possible legislative victory at the close of Congress for certain interest groups who have long advocated this approach to Internet Gaming. Of course, this criticism was lodged against Leach, LaFalce and Goodlatte , at a minimum.

Two other congressmen acted upon their opposition to the bill. Ron Paul (R-Texas) and Joe Baca (D-California) were not present at the seven-member vote, but had these comments inserted into the record of the Internet Gambling Funding Prohibition Act:

Congressman Baca: "I oppose H.R. 556, the Unlawful Internet Gambling Funding Prohibition Act. Although this bill is entitled a 'prohibition' act, it is really an authorization act. Section 3 of the bill provides a carve-out for transactions with businesses licensed or authorized by States. It provides exemptions that, in essence, would allow States to license new Internet gaming operations for lotteries, horse tracks, and corporate gambling operations."

Congressman Paul: "H.R. 556 limits the ability of individual citizens to use bank instruments, including credit cards or checks, to finance Internet gambling. This legislation should be rejected by Congress since the federal government has no constitutional authority to ban or even discourage any form of gambling.

Jay Cohen, one of the founders of the World Sports Exchange (WSEX), was infuriated when the bill passed because the sponsors so disingenuously linked online gambling with terrorism. He stated: "This bill is one more example of certain Congressmen trying to advance their right wing social agenda in the name of fighting terrorism. It is an insult to all who lost their lives last year and all Americans to have their tragedy invoked in the name of stopping online gambling. Some of these Congressmen don't care how low they stoop." (Cohen recently reported to Nellis Federal Prison in North Las Vegas to serve his 21-month sentence for illegal bookmaking.)

Although it initially appeared that it was a near certainty that HR 556 would be defeated by the Senate's non-action, on Oct 31, the Las Vegas Review Journal reported that the White House urged Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle to schedule a vote in the Senate on the online gambling bill during the lame-duck session. Because the issue is controversial, there is little chance of that happening, but the White House's action probably changes "no chance" to "tiny chance."

Even though HR 556 probably will be defeated by the Senate's non-action, the issue of online gambling is ripe in the minds of some Congressional members and it is therefore important to be proactive. The Interactive Gaming Council (IGC) is a not for profit corporation with the primary purpose of providing information and education regarding the interactive gaming industry. The IGC's membership is comprised of gaming operators, software designers, and ancillary support companies located throughout the world. They strongly urge the public to become knowledgeable about gaming law and to write to Senators regarding the legality of online play. They can be found at http://www.igcouncil.org/ . Your Senator's name and e-mail address can be found at http://www.senate.gov/contacting/index_by_state.cfm . If you want a letter already written for you, go to http://www.legalpoker.org/ . There are many LOUD CONSERVATIVE VOICES opposed to online gambling who are presently uniting to urge their congressmen to SUPPORT legislation such as this (see

http://www1.ncaa.org/membership/enforcement/gambling/556 or ( http://www.family.org/cforum/fnif/news/a0022553.html ). It is therefore important for the poker community's opposition to be heard on Capitol Hill.

Allyn Jaffrey received her Bachelor of Arts from the University of California at Irvine in 1977, where she graduated cum laude and became a member of Phi Beta Kappa for scholastic achievement . She is a practicing criminal defense attorney, having received a Juris Doctorate with scholastic merit from Western State University where she served as Research Editor and Executive Editor of Law Review in 1982-1983. She has lectured all over California , teaching other attorneys the fine points of criminal defense. She specializes in legal research and her areas of expertise include the filing of extraordinary Writs, Appeals and motions where a lower court judge commits legal error or where the police or prosecutors engage in misconduct. Allyn has been closely following the development of gaming law and the Internet ever since Jay Cohen was convicted in New York of operating a sports betting business from Antigua in violation of the Wire Act.