Eric, What do you think about yesterday's TechWeb News: nline Gambling
Not In Congress'
Cards
(07/28/97; 6:00 p.m. EDT)
By David Braun, TechWire
WASHINGTON -- When it
comes to gambling on the
Internet, there's only one wager
U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.)
would like to make: He's
betting there will be a law to
pull the plug on all online
betting before the end of the
year.
Chairman of the U.S. Senate
Judiciary Committee's
Technology, Terrorism and
Government Information
Subcommittee, Kyl held a
hearing Monday to garner
support for his Internet
Gambling Prohibition Act. He
was joined by a number of
witnesses, from the National
Association of Attorneys
General to the National
Football League, who spoke up
for the full and immediate
ending of all online gambling.
"This bill is necessary for the
legal system to keep pace with
technology," Kyl said. "The
bill's most important provision
permits federal, state and local
law enforcement officials to
request -- or by court order to
require -- both the telephone
company and the Internet
service provider to pull the
plug on any Internet gambling
business among their
customers."
The sweep of the law includes
gambling sites based in foreign
countries. ISPs and phone
companies will be obliged to
cut off service to such sites as
long as residents of a
nongambling state can access
gambling sites. Penalties for
operators of online gambling
businesses are set as much as
$20,000 and four years in jail,
while gamblers who place an
illegal bet face a fine of as
much as $2,500 and a six-month
jail term.
Kyl's bill has support from the
ranking Democrat on his
committee, Sen. Dianne
Feinstein (D-Calif.), and Sen.
Richard Bryan (D-Nev.),
whose state has huge vested
interests in regulated gambling.
"Unlike the heavily regulated
casinos in Nevada, Internet
wagering is unregulated, and
since many of these sites
operate offshore, it is beyond
the reach of U.S. authorities,"
Bryan said. "Such a scenario is
ripe for consumer fraud."
It's impossible for any state to
regulate gambling on the
Internet, said Bryan, adding that
the only responsible choice
Congress can make is to
prohibit it.
Wisconsin Attorney General
James Doyle gave the panel a
video demonstration of dozens
of gambling sites on the
Internet, including the Rolling
Good Times service, which
was taking bets on the odds of
Kyl's gambling bill becoming
law.
"I would say the odds are pretty
good, what with virtual
unanimous support from both
the state and federal law
enforcement communities, that
this will be a law by the end of
the year," Kyl said.
It was already possible to
gamble on hundreds of Internet
sites, Doyle said. "But we don't
know what's behind those cards
and cherries, whether they're
fair or whether they're being
controlled by organized crime,"
he said.
"As a state official, I rarely
want the federal government to
take the lead," Doyle said. "But
if ever there was an instance for
the federal government to take
action, this is it."
>>>
Thanks...Gator |
