| | |  | Last Updated: Wednesday, February 27, 2008 |  | | | Online Gambling Still Threatened in the USA
- Saturday, 11 Mar 2006
Many countries all around the world have legalized online gambling. And the benefits from tax revenues from these gambling operators has made postive impacts on these countries governments. The USA however, has still refusing to change their outdated laws which keep the online gambling industry illegal. Considering the fact that US players make up a large majority of internet gambling fans, this matter seems almost nonsensical. On the 15th of February US Congressman from Virginia Bob Goodlatte reintroduced HR 4777, the "Internet Gambling Prohibition Act". Goodlatte hopes to pass the bill, which will amend the earlier Title 18 of the United States Code containing the Federal Wire Act passed in 1961.
The Wire Act outlawed telephone betting by making it illegal to place bets by "wire transmission". The explosion of Internet gambling poker rooms and sports books in recent years was possible only as a result of the ambiguity surrounding the definition of "wire". While opponents of Internet gambling insisted that the meaning included cable, Detroit, and cellular technology, no court would uphold a conviction based on that definition. Goodlatte hopes to amend that by expanding the Code to include all forms of electronic transmission, as well as to include all types of bets.
Earlier attempts to pass the gambling legislation were thwarted by the lobbying efforts of Jack Abramoff, according to Gooodlatte's office. But Abramoff's recent guilty pleas to fraud, tax evasion and conspiracy to bribe public officials have added political capital to Goodlatte's campaign. According to Goodlatte "Illegal online gambling doesn't just hurt gamblers and their families, it hurts the economy by draining dollars from the United States and serve as a vehicle for money laundering".
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