We’re All Waiting to See if U.S. Gov’t Has the Balls to Legalize Online Gambling (After All, Think of All the Tax Revenues…)
I saw this interesting posting on an International Casino web site. Interesting because it presents an interesting perspective on what’s going on here in the States.
Everyone knows that our government needs tax revenue.
So here we have online gambling…. with all this potential tax revenue….
Here is what the blogger said (in summary, mind you):
If HR 2267 supplants UIGEA, it won’t just be a case of one impenetrable abbreviation taking over from another.
For behind the cryptic code beloved of bureaucracy lie two pieces of legislation – one in force, the other perhaps not far away from toppling it – which together govern the recent history and potential future of online gambling in the U.S.
UIGEA, of course, is the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, which in 2006 put a stop to online operators taking the bets of American residents.
UIGEA didn’t so much stop them gaming as join a raft of legislation that turned them into technical criminals.
And that’s one of the arguments mustered by supporters of HR 2267, also known as the Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act, proposed by the controversially liberal Congressman Barney Frank.
Yey Barney!
Frank wants online gaming operators to be permitted once again to market their services to U.S. customers, and he found some support this summer from the House Financial Services Committee, which voted 41-22 to approve the bill, although not without amendments – and not without some vocal opposition.
Among its opponents speaking at a two-and-a-half-hour hearing were Congressman Spencer Bachus, who characterised online operators as “criminal offshore gaming interests”, and anti-terrorism consultant Michael Fagan, who warned that “anybody who grew up in America knows someone who went out and bought liquor [while under-age] and the same thing will happen on the Internet”.
Great. Remember those names, voters.
While the logic underlying Fagan’s prediction may have mystified many, it was persuasive enough to the committee that the modified bill it passed does require online gaming firms to take measures to exclude young people.
It also places restrictions on marketing and payment methods, says that operations must take place in the U.S., and gives equal licensing and enforcement authority to states and tribes. And it still doesn’t legalise online sports betting.
But for Franks’s supporters, the committee’s approval will be seen as a significant step ahead, and they are counting on a slowly but steadily spreading acceptance of gambling in the U.S. to ease its passage through the next legislative steps.
After all, 37 states now have legalised non-lottery gambling, up from just 13 in 1988: surely online’s time has come?
We hope.
Now THIS is great gaming news! What do I do now?
1. Subsribe to Gaming Moments!
3. Bookmark this post on del.icio.us
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Posted on September 9, 2010 by doclotto | Filed Under Casino, Events, Games, Online
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