In the chambers of the House Financial Services Committee on Tuesday, a simple vote of 30-19 increased the possibility that the Internet gambling industry in the United States may soon be rejuvenated. Or part of it, at least.
The Committee passed HR 6870, the Payments System Protection Act, which was introduced by its chairman, Barney Frank (D-Mass.).
Here's the backstory: Back in 2006, a coalition led by former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) ushered the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) through Congress, after years of trying to enact legislation to halt Internet gambling dead in its tracks in the United States.
Frist attached the UIGEA to an unrelated measure called the SAFE Port Act, a terrorism bill, which was passed by a landslide in the House of Representatives and by unanimous consent in the Senate. The move occurred on the very last day of the 2006 Congressional session before adjournment for elections.
The UIGEA, which was signed by President George W. Bush in October of 2006, states that transactions between customers in the United States and companies engaged in “unlawful Internet gambling” are illegal. However, no formal definition of “unlawful Internet gambling” was ever given. Amidst one of the worst financial times since the Great Depression, banks must comb through thousands of checks written daily to make sure that none of them could potentially fund Internet gambling. After all, they don’t want to be the proverbial “test case.”
At a hearing in April, representatives from the U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve, along with representatives from firms like Wells Fargo, stated that it was impossible for them to police the Internet gambling industry. This prompted Congressman Frank, along with Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul (R-Texas), to introduce HR 5767, the first version of the Payments System Protection Act.
The bill and a proposed amendment called for the Treasury and Federal Reserve to work together with the Department of Justice to ascertain what is and is not legal under the UIGEA. At the same time, it prohibited the Attorney General’s office from enforcing the UIGEA until new standards were created.
Unfortunately, the bill was defeated in Committee in June.
Flash forward to last Thursday, September 11. Word spread on Capitol Hill that Frank had introduced a second version of the Payments System Protection Act. This one was numbered HR 6870 and prohibited any regulations from the UIGEA from being enacted other than those dealing with sports leagues.
This important caveat is a big one, as in Congress it is becoming more and more apparent that gambling on sports is something that everyone agrees is detrimental. In addition, HR 6870 and an amendment called for an actual list of legal and illegal activities under the UIGEA to be developed. For once, financial institutions would have a road map to determine what transactions to allow.
HR 6870 passed the House Financial Services Committee by a vote of 30-19 on Tuesday. It now awaits its turn on the floor of the House of Representatives.
The House is scheduled to adjourn next Friday, September 26, until the general elections. A so-called “lame duck” session may not even occur in 2008 if mandatory budgetary items can be attended to. This means that the future of the Internet gambling industry hangs in the balance for the next 10 days.
— Dan Cypra is an Internet gambling industry expert and writes for several of the leading poker news sites on the Web
I think this is a tendency of the most of the Goverments.They do not solve really important problems but they try to assure people that the problems that they solve are important.
To ban the problem is the easiest so is the most often way the officials use.
I kinda agree with your viewpoint.The Government (here in
America as well as in my native India) tend to think that all people
are gullible and don't know/realise what they are getting into when
they gamble.Which is just another way for Uncle Sam to justify its
existence.Instead of working on solving real issues like
Immigration,Competition,lack of energy Security,Lack of health care
reform,Financial Turmoil our Government enjoys passing laws which have
absolutely no benefit for people.
You definitely need
safeguards in place ,especially for compulsive gamblers/addicts but not
to the extent of banning the whole damn thing.If you ban
something,people are so ingenous today they will find a way to
circumvent the ban,especially on the Internet.An example,you could use Phone Systems-say Internet Websites are banned by America and there is absolutely no way to circumvent the system(Hypothetical I know but possible),you could still set a Sports Website which gives Odds in favor or against( I dont think u would be able to ban that piece of information),then you can call into the Offshore Gambling centre and place your bets using your Credit Card or Money Exchange centres like Western Union.What's going to stop that?More regulation?? I doubt it,some people might even go low-tech to solve the problem.
As for the fact that most of these gambling websites are in Low Tax regimes with stable regulation,thats part of the reason why the Government is trying to stamp out the "menace" as they would like to call it.The way I look at it,its a plain dumb& stupid move.
Can somebody explain me what's the problem with on-line gambling?Why legislature establishment spend so much time to let or to prohibit on-line gambling?I really don't understand it.Why is it such a big deal?
Never seen gamblers rioting or destroying private property (that's not theirs)... it has everything to do with money!
Those online casinos where created in a low-tax area and try to avoid paying as much as possible... I don't know the real story here, but I'm pretty sure that at some point it has to do with money.
I'm not sure if this has anything to do with paying taxes to american government. The major problem with internet gambling is that it is difficult to control on a larger scale (say on the internet) whereas the casino (even I don't like it either) is locally "controllable".
And how is this different from a brick-and-mortar casino? it's legal in some places. Those internet betting sites probably weren't paying as many taxes as the traditional counterparts.
I bet (JA!) there's something besides protecting the Amercian people.
Internet gambling is a real PLAGUE for society, and it is responsible that "leading credit card issuer agrees to block key internet transactions" as said in the post FINANCIAL GIANT JOINS FIGHT AGAINST ONLINE GAMBLING. I hope everyboby will take the same stand against the threat.
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