Trying To Put The Breaks On Online Gambling

I saw a number of reports yesterday (one story here) about the status of the Unlawful Gambling Enforcement Act (H.R. 4411). The bill, sponsored by Jim Leach (R-Iowa), was approved by a House panel and will now proceed to a floor vote in the House. The bill doesn’t prohibit gambling, but it does make it difficult for the offshore online gambling industry to access the money from its patrons if their funds are within the U.S. financial services industry. There is also separate legislation being forwarded to ban all types of electronic gambling in the U.S.

Wherever you side on gambling, this is going to be a mess. Congress took the proverbial cork out of the gambling bottle years ago culminating in 1988 with the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA). In about two decades, we have gone from gambling existing in two states to gambling existing in 48 states. Now, Congress is trying to put the greatly swollen cork back into the bottle. Good luck. The Internet is everywhere and it will be difficult to enforce this without a great deal of messy and probably ineffective convolutions.