Anti-Gambling Measure Reaches Floor of U.S. House

This week, the latest push by the United States' federal government against internet gaming was back in the news, as separate measures received consideration in both Houses of Congress.

The first of the two recent happenings took place last Tuesday, when Sen. John Kyl (R-AZ) announced plans to attach his venerable Internet Gambling Prohibition Act to other legislation in an attempt to "piggy-back" the proposal onto the books. Kyl's measure, co-sponsored by Senator Mark Pryor (D-AR), was the legislation that was killed largely through the efforts of now-disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff a few years back.

At almost the same time, a related measure sponsored by Rep. Terry Leach (R-IA) cleared a sub-committee in the House on a unanimous voice-vote, meaning that it will come up on the main floor at a later date. Leach's bill is actually the reworking of the Goodlatte measure that we outlined here in an earlier post. In an amazing coincidence, Rep. Goodlatte just happened to be chairing the committee considering the proposed measure that day (on behalf of an ailing Rep. Howard Coble [R-NC]). For a little bit of insight on how committees and sub-committees work, click this link.

It's important to clarify the targets of these legislative pushes. The measures aren't aimed at internet gamblers specifically, whose actions are already technically illegal (yet, for all reasonable purposes, unenforceable). In the Kyl legislation, the push is to target the financial institutions and Internet-access providers whose services allow Americans to gamble online. As taken from the release:

"A spokeswoman for Pryor says the measure would target Internet gambling sites by blocking credit card and similar financial transactions that currently fuel the business."

The legislation from the Goodlatte/Leach camp also attempts to outlaw the operation of financing channels, but tries to create additional definitions of what is and isn't acceptable gambling. (Basically, whatever the government can assure itself a slice of falls into the "acceptable gambling" category, and included in the unacceptable category would be any offshore poker site you could name.) The astute among you might ask if passing a U.S. law against non-U.S.-based businesses is as pointless as it sounds, but remember, there are other motivations behind the Goodlatte push.

So the skirmishes continue. Soon enough there'll be more noise from the selective-morality crowd, and if it fits here, you'll read about it. In the meantime, speak up and join the fight. Writing or e-mailing your Congressman or Senator is always recommended, unless that person is named, say, Leach or Goodlatte or Kyl or Pryor. Those folks have already decided that they know what's best for you.