Online gaming could suffer a financial blow with a bill passed just yesterday that would increase criminal penalties for gambling businesses that settle online wagers with credit cards, checks, or fund transfers.
The U.S. House of Representatives has approved the Internet Gambling Prohibition and Enforcement Act, sponsored by Reps. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) and Jim Leach (R-Iowa), by a 317-93 vote.
The bill amends the 1961 Wire Act, which prohibits gambling using telephone wires, to include Internet gambling as a prohibited activity.
According to the Chicago Tribune, Senate leaders have not identified the bill as a priority, but the bill’s main champion in the upper chamber, Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), said he will pursue it aggressively.
The bill, opposed by a new group called the Poker Players Alliance, would require financial institutions to create systems for blocking payments to gambling sites, but it allows states to continue to regulate gambling within their borders.
Michael Bolcerek, president of the Poker Players Alliance, released the following statement after the House passed the legislation. “The United States should follow the lead of the United Kingdom by regulating and taxing online poker, not banning it,” the statement reads. “An economic analysis just released by our organization shows that U.S. regulation of online poker has the potential to raise more than $3.3 billion in annual revenue for the federal government, in addition to another $1 billion for state coffers. We hope that this analysis will give a fresh perspective for U.S. Senators about the benefits of regulation.”
This recent legislation is an attempt to stop U.S. gamblers from spending “over $6 billion a year [at] illegal, untaxed sites,” Goodlatte said on the House floor. The congressman called online gambling a “cash cow” for offshore gambling businesses.
It was uncertain whether the anti-gambling legislation would be passed by the U.S. Senate due to a lack of debating time before the November congressional elections.
The bill does not ban existing online gambling industries such as horse racing and state lotteries.
