Is internet gambling such an overwhelming problem that we need to effectively ban it? I don't think so.

The House easily approved a bill yesterday to curb online poker games, sports betting and other Internet-based wagering that gained infamy as a central focus of a major lobbying scandal.

The 317-to-93 vote came nearly six years to the day after a similar measure went down to surprise defeat. At the time, unknown to its conservative supporters, the bill was derailed by lobbyist Jack Abramoff and the office of then-House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, on behalf of the disgraced lobbyist's gambling clients.

"This is the opportunity to expunge a smear on this House done by many lobbyists," Abramoff included, said Rep. Robert W. Goodlatte (R-Va.), one of the legislation's chief sponsors. "Now is the time to set the record straight."

The bill that was passed yesterday seeks to restrain the booming but difficult-to-regulate Internet gambling business. Proponents of the crackdown said the industry, which is mostly based overseas, provides a front for money laundering, some of it by drug sellers and terrorist groups, while preying on children and gambling addicts. Americans bet an estimated $6 billion per year online, accounting for half the worldwide market, according to analysis by the Congressional Research Service.

Critics said the bill overreaches and would be difficult to enforce. At its heart are two provisions. One would update the 1961 Wire Act, which bars gambling entities from using wire-based communications for transmitting bets, to include the Internet. The other aims at cutting off the money flow from players to Internet gambling sites by barring the use of electronic payments, such as credit-card transactions.

The biggest losers could be the estimated 23 million Americans who play poker over the Internet. "This bill would needlessly make outlaws of the millions of adult Americans who enjoy online poker, and is the latest example of how our representatives in Congress are ignoring real issues facing our country," warned the grass-roots Poker Players Alliance, in an alert to its more than 25,000 members.

While I consider the "ignoring the real issues" line to be a red herring (Congress can do many different pieces of legislation at once -- it isn't like nothing else was going on while this one worked its way through the committee and the full House), I agree that this is an area where there is no genuine reason to intrude. Given teh fact that we are legalizing gambling in more and more states, it seems absurd to prevent people from using the latest technology to gamble from their homes -- or to ban the most practical method of dealing with the financial transactions that go along with it.

And for the record, i don't gamble on the internet.

Posted by: Greg at 09:54 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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