Posted on 10/02/2006 10:36:19 AM PDT by Kokojmudd
US President George W. Bush this week is expected to sign a bill making it harder to place bets on the Internet, a practice which already is illegal in the United States.
Bush was expected to act quickly after Congress approved the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act making it illegal for financial institutions and credit card companies to process payments to settle Internet bets. It also created stiff penalties for online wagers.
Billions of dollars are wagered online each year and the United States is considered the biggest market.
"It is extraordinary how many American families have been touched by large losses from Internet gambling," said US Representative Jim Leach, the bill's main sponsor in the House, in a statement after its passage early Saturday.
The bill's chief Senate sponsor was conservative Republican Jon Kyl, who, like Leach, has said he believed Internet gambling was a moral threat. He has called online betting as the Internet version of crack cocaine.
"Gambling can be highly addictive, especially when its done over an unregulated environment such as the Internet" he said this year.
"If Congress had not acted, gamblers would soon be able to place bets not just from home computers, but from their cell phones while they drive home from work or their Blackberries as they wait in line at the movies," Leach said.
The US Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve Board will jointly develop implementing rules for the new law, while financial institutions have nine months to incorporate its provision.
Leach cited research which showed that young people who tend to spend hours of leisure time on the Internet, are particularly vulnerable.
A 2005 survey by the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg Public Policy Center found that 26 percent of male college students gamble in online card games at least once a month, while nearly 10 percent of all college students gambled online at some point last year.
"Never has it been so easy to lose so much money so quickly at such a young age. The casino is in effect brought to the home, office and college dorm.
"Children may play without verification, and betting with a credit card can undercut a players perception of the value of cash, which too easily leads to bankruptcy and crime," Leach said.
Experts said the vast majority of bettors are placing wagers on poker.
"Everyone loses if this industry continues its remarkable growth trends," Leach said.
Republicans tucked the measure into a bill aimed at enhancing port security, which passed early Saturday.
Stupid law, Nanny State Republicans strike again.
Makes you want to vote libertarian.
"Nanny State Republicans"
Not too long ago they were referred to as "Democrats".
I will not vote for a Republican until I can play online poker again. Tyrants be damned!
What's wrong with the free market? Aren't Republicans supposed to be supporters of the free market? Guess not.
unbelievable - this is the party of small government. the republicans are really getting on my last nerve.
The law is an ass, no doubt. But I wouldn't expect Bush to veto a port security bill just so folks can gamble online.
"Makes you want to vote libertarian"
Or Constitutional Party
I'm amazed by this one. How can it be legal to gamble in so many ways and legal to trade anything else on the net but not gamble on the net?
And the lottery, and Indian casinos, and Nevada casinos...
, especially when its done over an unregulated environment such as the Internet"
Translation: We're not getting our cut, either from taxes or bribes campaign contributions, so it has to stop.
This law would not have passed on its own. We can thank Big Nanny Frist for this.
No worries... if the dims get in, they will seize your computer because you are a Conservative. You also will not have enough money left to gamble with after their new TAX INCREASES. Now worries at all!
LLS
Banning online gambling is another example of a BIGGER GOVERNMENT, MORE INTRUSIVE GOVERNMENT, MORE CONTROLLING GOVERNMENT. My enthusiasm for the Republican Party seems to diminish by the day.
As Janice Rogers Brown (hopefully a Supreme Court Justice someday--but that will probably never happen with a party that continually moves to the left) so eloquently stated...
"WHERE GOVERNMENT ADVANCES-–AND IT ADVANCES RELENTLESSLY--FREEDOM IS IMPERILED".
Yeah, this is going to be popular. We are going to be the party who pissed off young males. All we needed to do was beef up the compliance requirements for gaining access and run a few stings using underaged kids. Regulation could allow US casinos to get in on $12B in activity instead of having some guys running a server in Antilles to cash in.
When they figure out how to be sure to get 'their collective beaks wet' and take 'their fair share'--you might see this change.
Of course W will sign it. Has he ever NOT signed ANY piece of legislation?
It is their money not yours congressman so I guess we need to ask the government anytime we want to spend OUR money. Or does it belong to them anyway and we have been fooled into believing that we earned it?
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