Debate Over Online Gambling

[Harvey]

This was originally posted in the April 4th online edition of the Wall Street Journal, but I thought I would go ahead and share it, because it's still timely and quite interesting. Enjoy.

Internet gambling is booming as Americans continue to wager billions of dollars on online sports books, Web casinos and virtual poker rooms even though the U.S. Department of Justice considers such activities illegal.

Several U.S. lawmakers are trying to crack down on the industry by clarifying existing U.S. laws and making it easier to go after offenders. One of those measures, the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, seeks to curb online gambling by trying to cut off the money supply: the bill would outlaw the use of credit cards, checks or money transfers to settle wagers.

The bill is sponsored by Rep. Jim Leach (R-Iowa). The Wall Street Journal Online asked Rep. Leach and David Carruthers, chief executive of BetOnSports Plc, an online sports book and casino based in Costa Rica, to debate whether Internet gambling should be banned in the U.S. Their exchange, carried out over email, is below.

The full article can be found here:

http://online.wsj.com/public/article...ml?mod=blog s

[randy]

It's interesting about the Internet Gambling Bill, because it does a little bit more than just cutting off the money supply. (Although that's what most of the news outlets are focusing on almost exclusively.) But the important thing that it does is clarify that the Wire Act does apply to wagers on the Internet, which is not in agreement with legal precedent. Once it's been legislated though, the situation changes dramatically.