With bipartisan support and the lobbying scandal of Jack Abramoff haunts Republican anti online gambling efforts to pass legislation, the House approved a crackdown on Internet wagering that would ban not only sports but also Paris online poker and other games that have become increasingly popular.
Poker players joining the fray
Lobbying, previously headed by Mr. Abramoff and others, has stirred around different versions of the bill for years, with newcomers like the famous poker players joining the fray this time.
Both sides of the debate cited figures to show how the business of online Paris soared, quadrupling to nearly $ 12 billion worldwide since legislation was first proposed to stifle growth. A broad coalition of major sports leagues, banking institutions, law enforcement, advocates of family values and religious groups have joined the bill on his behalf.
Addiction and debt risks of gambling
But while supporters and opponents of the bill on Tuesday expressed concern about addiction and debt risks posed by gambling on the Internet, critics were quick to point out what they regarded as contradictions. The House bill Powerball and spare parts of other games, for example, and preserves the rights of states to regulate gambling individually. They also criticized efforts to regulate cyberspace, with its lack of the lines (or even international).
Representative Shelley Berkley, Democrat of Nevada, said the Internet Company was expected to play $ 25 billion by the end of the decade. The US online gambling rules are very different from the UK gambling rules.
Representative Barney Frank, Democrat of Massachusetts, argued that the measure is a form of prohibition. As long as individuals are not harming someone else, Mr. Frank has argued, they should be free to spend their money as they wish.
Some, including Ms. Berkley, who pushed unsuccessfully for an amendment to strip the exemptions, strongly criticized what they called the bill "carve-out for the horse races. Representative Robert W. Goodlatte, Republican of Virginia and a longstanding sponsor of the bill, insisted that horse racing was already regulated by the Act on the Interstate Horseracing.
Under the House measure, the dog track industry would be excluded from the promotion inter-Parimutuel bet, because it has no other law protecting.
Other games need to review their rules, too. Players of games fantasy sports cannot bet on players or the team wins or loses, according to the House, the bill, but trying to guess who will exceed Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak will still be allowed.
Mr. Goodlatte bears scars merchant’s personal influence, "said Representative Jim Leach, Republican of Iowa, the first co-sponsor of this bill.
The above measures have died, Mr. Goodlatte said, "based on the misleading representations and the flow of huge sums of money from Jack Abramoff, he and others with water, his dirty laundry." He continued: "Many in this House are very determined to have the opportunity today to purge the smear on the Congress.
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