Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Two Nevada lawmakers are working on legislation for an 18-month study of
online gambling to determine whether online gambling can be effectively
regulated in the United States. U.S. Reps. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., and Jon
Porter, R-Nev. are expected to reveal the co-sponsored legislation within
the next few weeks, and they hope to gain a powerful ally in Rep. Barney
Frank, D-Mass. Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee and
a longtime critic of gambling restrictions, has called last year's Unlawful
Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) bill's ban of online gambling
"preposterous" and one of the "stupidest" bills ever passed. Frank has said
he is considering proposing a repeal of the ban, which aims to shut down
2,300 Internet gambling sites producing about $12 billion (about 6.17
billion pounds or Euros 9 billion) per year. Berkley said she talked to
Frank on Wednesday on the House floor about Internet gambling and they plan
to meet again "in the very near future." Any legislation to regulate online
gambling in the US would also require the support of the American Gaming
Association, who has in the past said they would support such a study. "The
purpose of our bill is to provide a comprehensive study with detailed
information on the expanded growth of Internet gambling," Berkley said. To
avoid the political bickering that plagued a federal commission that
completed a two-year study of legalized gambling in June 1999, Berkley and
Porter would assign an 18-month Internet gambling study to the National
Research Council, which is an agency of the National Academy of Sciences.
"This actually is a very independent institution which has the resources to
get the facts to Congress," Porter said. Porter introduced a similar bill
last year, which Berkley co-sponsored. Despite Congress approving an
Internet gambling ban last October, Porter said he thinks lawmakers would
consider a repeal. A date has not been set, but Porter said he still plans
to visit the Isle of Man, Britain, and Madrid, Spain, to observe Internet
gambling operations firsthand.
Berkley's position on Internet gambling has changed since July 2000, when
she voted for an online betting ban proposed by Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va.