WASHINGTON-The House passed legislation to ban Internet gambling domestically and abroad. The legislation, based on a 1961 law that prohibits gambling over telephone lines, expands the ban to the Internet, wireless and other new technologies.
“I am extremely pleased by the passage of this legislation through the House of Representatives and now I call on the Senate to act on this important legislation,” said Rep. Goodlatte (R-Va.), one of the original sponsors of the bill. “Gambling on the Internet has become an extremely lucrative business. Numerous studies have charted the explosive growth of this industry, both by the increases in gambling Web sites available and via industry revenues. Internet gambling is now estimated to be a $12 billion industry, with approximately $6 billion coming from bettors based in the U.S. It has been reported that there are as many as 2,300 gambling sites.”
The bill would enhance criminal penalties for gambling businesses settling Internet wagers with financial instruments such as credit cards, checks, or fund transfers, increasing the maximum prison term for violations from two years to five years. The measure also would require regulations to establish procedures for blocking these transactions.
Goodlatte said Internet gambling extracts billions of dollars annually out of the U.S. economy and undermines families. The Virginia lawmaker cited FBI and Justice Department testimony that Internet gambling can be exploited by terrorists to launder money.
Opponents of the legislation contend it makes far more sense to regulate Internet gambling rather than to outlaw it, an approach critics claim would weed out bad actors and provide tax revenue for states and the U.S Treasury.
Similar legislation is pending in the Senate.
Meantime, the Associated Press reported a former Lehigh University class president and the son of a preacher pleaded guilty to felony robbery in a Pennsylvania court after holding up a bank last December to pay online poker gambling debts.
