Feds issue rule aimed at Internet gambling ban
By ERICA WERNER – 4 hours ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Bush administration issued a final regulation Wednesday aimed at banning Internet gambling, drawing criticism from Democrats who said it would burden financial companies.
The rule from the Treasury Department and Federal Reserve requires those companies to establish procedures to prevent payments in connection with unlawful Internet gambling. They would be expected to comply by Dec. 1, 2009.
The chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., had asked the Treasury this week not to move ahead now, saying it would "burden the financial services industry at a time of economic crisis."
The rule does not define "unlawful Internet gambling." That has been an issue since Republicans pushed through the law that the new rule puts in place, by attaching it to a port security bill in 2006.
The law sought to curb online gambling by prohibiting financial institutions from accepting payments from credit cards, checks or electronic fund transfers to settle online wagers. But the law did not offer a clear definition of Internet gambling, instead referring to existing federal and state laws, which themselves provoke differing interpretations.
Banks and other financial institutions complained they were being forced into a law enforcement role when Congress could not even define what conduct it was trying to prevent. Payments are difficult to track anyway and online gambling companies can disguise themselves with relative ease.
Frank's committee passed a bill this year seeking to block the rule from taking effect and first defining what was illegal online gambling. The measure did not pass the House.
"The clock is ticking on President Bush's prohibitionist crusade against Internet gaming and that is clearly why these flawed regulations are being forced on the financial services industry at the very last minute," Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., said in a statement.
Berkley, along with the rest of Nevada's House delegation and the state's gambling industry, supports legislation that would require a study of Internet gambling and the impacts of regulating it.
U.S. bettors have been estimated to supply at least half the revenue of the $16 billion Internet gambling industry, which is largely hosted on overseas sites.
Source: Associated Press
By ERICA WERNER – 4 hours ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Bush administration issued a final regulation Wednesday aimed at banning Internet gambling, drawing criticism from Democrats who said it would burden financial companies.
The rule from the Treasury Department and Federal Reserve requires those companies to establish procedures to prevent payments in connection with unlawful Internet gambling. They would be expected to comply by Dec. 1, 2009.
The chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., had asked the Treasury this week not to move ahead now, saying it would "burden the financial services industry at a time of economic crisis."
The rule does not define "unlawful Internet gambling." That has been an issue since Republicans pushed through the law that the new rule puts in place, by attaching it to a port security bill in 2006.
The law sought to curb online gambling by prohibiting financial institutions from accepting payments from credit cards, checks or electronic fund transfers to settle online wagers. But the law did not offer a clear definition of Internet gambling, instead referring to existing federal and state laws, which themselves provoke differing interpretations.
Banks and other financial institutions complained they were being forced into a law enforcement role when Congress could not even define what conduct it was trying to prevent. Payments are difficult to track anyway and online gambling companies can disguise themselves with relative ease.
Frank's committee passed a bill this year seeking to block the rule from taking effect and first defining what was illegal online gambling. The measure did not pass the House.
"The clock is ticking on President Bush's prohibitionist crusade against Internet gaming and that is clearly why these flawed regulations are being forced on the financial services industry at the very last minute," Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., said in a statement.
Berkley, along with the rest of Nevada's House delegation and the state's gambling industry, supports legislation that would require a study of Internet gambling and the impacts of regulating it.
U.S. bettors have been estimated to supply at least half the revenue of the $16 billion Internet gambling industry, which is largely hosted on overseas sites.
Source: Associated Press
