No News is Good News

Happy holidays to you and your families! As I predicted, 2003 will come to a close without any legislation affecting online gambling.

As you may recall earlier this year, in the House, Rep. Bachus introduced HR 2143 (also known as the Unlawful Internet Gambling Funding Prohibition Act), which passed in the House of Representatives by a vote of 319-104. The bill contains no criminal or civil liabilities and is a shell of last year's version. It does not make online poker playing illegal; it merely makes it more difficult to get money into an offshore site.

In the Senate, companion bill S. 627 was introduced. S. 627 prohibits gambling businesses from accepting credit cards, checks, or other bank instruments from gamblers who "illegally" place wagers over the Internet. However, the bill went to the Senate Banking Committee, where, in a matter of minutes, the 19-member committee attached a fatal amendment to the bill. The controversial amendment eliminates state governments' right to regulate online gaming! Historically and traditionally, state governments license, regulate, and tax the gaming industry. Many senators find the amendment so offensive that they cannot support the bill. For example, Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., have already stated publicly that they cannot support the bill, based on the new language. Even attorneys from the Department of Justice are concerned about the amendment, fearing it may actually be interpreted as expanding online gambling opportunities. However, by the time you read this article, the Senate will have adjourned without voting on the bill this year, meaning that no Internet gaming legislation will have passed for yet another year.

Approximately five million Americans are estimated to play on the Internet. Again this year, the government has done nothing to curb Americans' appetite for gambling. As I have suggested for years, regulation and taxation is a far better alternative to Congress' ill-formulated debacle.