One member of Congress leading the charge to implement the commission's recommendations is John J. LaFalce, a Democrat from Buffalo, NY. LaFalce cites the pathology of compulsive gambling as the need to make the Internet off-limits for betting. Earlier this year, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) issued an advisory on Internet gambling, showing studies that 10 to 15 percent of young people in the U.S. and Canada experienced one or more significant problems with gambling. It noted as well that gambling sites use inducements such as free merchandise to attract young visitors.
The APA said that, unlike normal casino gambling, Internet gambling is often a solitary activity. People can gamble for hours without interruption, or any family members or friends saying 'enough.'
New legislation introduced
LaFalce aims to cut off Internet gambling at its weakest point, money transfers. Before the August recess, LaFalce introduced H.R. 2579, the Internet Gambling Payment Prohibitions Act. The bill prohibits Internet gambling sites from accepting checks, credit cards, debit cards, or electronic funds transfers as payment for betting over the Internet. The bill aims to prevent known sites from being approved for electronic or credit card payments. While the bill puts most liability on site operators, the bill also makes it illegal for a financial institution to knowingly transfer funds to known Internet gambling operations.
LaFalce introduced a companion bill, H.R. 2572, the Gambling ATM and Credit/Debit Card Reform Act. This bill prohibits gambling establishments from placing credit card terminals, or accepting credit cards for payment or cash advances, in the immediate area where gambling is conducted. And it imposes similar restrictions on automated teller machines, point-of-sale terminals or other electronic cash dispensing devices in the immediate area where gambling occurs.
While LaFalce's bills may mean well, they run headlong into a basic Internet reality, that the 'Net is worldwide and beyond the complete control of American legislation. The National Gambling Impact Study Commission could only recommend that Federal government take steps to encourage foreign governments not to harbor Internet gambling operations that prey on American citizens. As long as offshore operators can escape American laws, online gambling is likely to flourish for some time.
Links:
Online gambling rules and regulations: http://www.online-gambling-rules.org/ind...
Representative LaFalce press release on Internet gambling legislation: http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/ny2...
American Psychiatric Association advisory on Internet gambling: http://www.psych.org/news_stand/internet...
National Gambling Impact Study Commission: http://www.ngisc.gov/
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