ARTICLE: Some lawmakers call for regulating, not banning, online gambling

clevfan · 03-13-2003, 07:59 AM

Some lawmakers call for regulating, not banning, online gambling
By LAURENCE ARNOLD
Associated Press Writer

March 12, 2003, 5:19 PM EST

WASHINGTON -- A small bipartisan group of lawmakers is urging Congress to consider letting states regulate and tax Internet gambling, even as a larger group of determined colleagues begins another attempt to ban the burgeoning form of wagering.

Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., introduced legislation Wednesday that would pave the way to legalize Internet gambling in states interested in licensing, overseeing and collecting taxes from the growing industry.

"Just as outlawing alcohol did not work in the 1920s, current attempts to prohibit online gaming will not work, either," said Conyers, the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee.

In a series of votes since 1998, large majorities in the House and Senate have voted to outlaw gambling over the Internet. But disputes over how to define illegal gambling, what forms of wagering to exempt from a ban, and how to enforce a ban, have prevented Congress from agreeing on any one bill to send to the White House.

Opponents of Internet gambling are resuming their effort in the 108th Congress. The House Financial Services Committee on Thursday will consider legislation proposed by Rep. Jim Leach, R-Iowa, that would prohibit the use of credit cards, checks and electronic fund transfers to pay for online betting transactions.

As Congress has debated a crackdown, Internet gambling has exploded: Christiansen Capital Advisors, which studies the gambling industry, estimates that online wagering worldwide will exceed $6 billion this year and $10 billion in 2005, with a hefty share of the betting taking place in the United States.

But leaders of the long-running effort to ban Internet gambling say it cannot be effectively regulated. They cite underage gambling, fraud and money laundering as possible side effects.

Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., said he doubts that an online casino would ever be able to distinguish a bet placed legally in a state that regulates Internet gambling from a bet placed illegally in a state that bans it.

The Conyers bill, similar to one he introduced late last year after the 107th Congress had completed its work, would create an Internet Gambling Licensing and Regulation Study Commission to study such questions.

A British online trading company, Sportingbet PLC, estimated that American states could have collected $1.4 billion in 2002 by taxing Internet gambling as they do real-life casinos.

The debate over regulating or prosecuting Internet gambling sites has flared in several states, including New Jersey. In 2001, some state lawmakers proposed letting gamblers wager via the Internet on "real time" games being played at Atlantic City casino tables. The idea did not advance.

New Jersey's attorney general filed lawsuits in 2001 against several Internet sites for taking sports bets from New Jersey. At least two agreed to stop.

Joining Conyers as original sponsors of the pro-regulation bill, his office said, are Reps. Chris Cannon, R-Utah; Joe Baca, D-Calif.; and Shelley Berkley, D-Nev.

Berkley, whose district includes Las Vegas and its commercial casinos, voted to ban Internet gambling in 2000.

MGM Mirage Inc., the largest operator of Las Vegas Strip hotels, last year became the first major U.S. gambling company to open an online casino, based in and regulated by the Isle of Man off the coast of Great Britain.

Because the current legal status of Internet gambling in the United States is hazy _ some site operators have been prosecuted under the 1961 Wire Communications Act, which was written to cover sports betting via telephone _ MGM's online casino does not yet accept bets from the United States.

MGM Mirage spokesman Alan Feldman said the Conyers proposal is a welcome indication that some lawmakers have open minds about how technology and the public appetite for gambling have evolved.

"This is deserving of a good debate here in the United States," he said. "Let's look at technology today, where the industry stands today, and what the public is doing. There are hundreds of thousands of Americans who go online every day and wager millions of dollars."

The American Gaming Association, which represents commercial casinos, continues to support a ban on Internet gambling "as it exists today," while holding out the option of backing a system in which online casinos are regulated and taxed.

But Nevada Sen. Harry Reid, the number two Democrat in the Senate, said late last year that online gambling is still "ripe for cheating" and should be banned.

___P>

Information on the Leach bill, H.R. 21, and the Conyers bill, which is to be numbered, can be found at http://thomas.loc.gov

Copyright © 2003, The Associated Press

all-in · 03-13-2003, 12:59 PM

"But Nevada Sen. Harry Reid, the number two Democrat in the Senate, said late last year that online gambling is still "ripe for cheating" and should be banned".

Unless they contribute to his reeletion campaign. He is the biggest piece of shiit and hired gun in the Senate

Onasoapbox · 03-13-2003, 01:09 PM

Do any of the lawmakers from Nevada, know what they want. One time they want it legal the next day they don't. I can't keep up with what this state wants to do about on-line gaming. You would think that since they are obviously the best geared state for it--they would be the #1 advocate--but here in the good old US of A. $ talks and all the rest walk!