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There are also legalized land based and
riverboat gambling interests, which now either
support or don't oppose these bills. There are
also state and local governments which receive
substantial tax revenues off of legalized
gambling and its associated hotel, restaurant,
and entertainment activities. Also, most states
derive revenues from state run lotteries. States
support the bills. Finally, there are Indian
gambling interests.
S 474 (105th) was a simple and short ban on
Internet gambling. The first version of S 692
(106th), introduced in March of 1999, grew to 28
pages, largely due to its inclusion of
exceptions and immunities. Each subsequent
version grew in length. HR 3125, introduced on
October 21, is up to 37 pages. The House
Judiciary Committee marked up the bill on April
5-6, 2000. The Senate approved S 692 on November
19, 1999.
The bill now has so many exceptions, exemptions,
immunities, loopholes, definitions, and
clarifying clauses, that it is now a misnomer to
call it the Internet Gambling Prohibition Act.
It would be more appropriately called the
Federal Internet Gambling Regulatory Code.
In fact, the even the term Internet is a
misnomer. The bill would affect not just
Internet activity, but also any system which
networks two computers to a server.
Many forms of offline gambling which are legal
today are exempted from the bill. The new
business model, the Internet casino, would be
most impacted by the bill.
When Sen. Kyl and Rep. Goodlatte began this
effort, their bills looked like altruistic
efforts to protect the Internet, and its users,
from the insidious consequences of gambling.
Now, their bills are taking on the appearance of
efforts by established gambling interests to
limit competition from new entrants, and by
state governments to protect their gambling
revenues.
HR 4419 is the most recent proposal. It was
introduced on May 10, 2000 by Rep. James Leach
(R-IA), Chairman of the House Banking Committee.
As amended on June 28, it would ban the use of
certain bank instruments for illegal Internet
gambling.
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