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An online gambling expert recently said that, despite the efforts by the U.S. Congress to ban the activity, the online gambling industry has no reason to be concerned. The bipartisan Online Gambling Act was presented to the U.S. Congress on Thursday by Reps. Bob Goodlatte (Republican of Virginia) and Rick Boucher (Democrat of Virginia), and will be debated by the legislative body in the current session. However, the president of a popular online gambling site told reporters that he believes that the anti- online gambling bill will eventually be killed by the very people who currently are the initiative’s biggest supporters, such as the Christian Coalition, the National Coalition Against Gambling Expansion, and the Family Research Council. He predicts that these right- wing and anti- online gambling organizations will eventually turn against the bill because it is bound to contain too many exceptions. That is, in order to get the bill passed, its sponsors will have to accept that certain politically powerful groups, such as the horse racing and Indian casino industries, will not be included in the law, and the right- wing organizations simply will not accept this possibility. Their opposition, combined with the influence of pro- online gambling groups, will defeat the bill, according to the industry expert. The expert pointed to that fact that just this scenario accounted for the downfall of similar anti- online gambling bills, which have been presented to the Congress several times in the past few years. Moreover, he pointed out that the proposed anti- gambling bill does not actually target the root of the problem and that, even if it does pass, it will not eviscerate the industry. The proposed bill, in fact, only addresses the U.S.- based financial institutions that process transactions by the online gambling sites. Under the proposed bill, financial institutions such as credit card companies, banks, internet banks, etc., would be prohibited from being used at online casinos, sports betting sites, and other online gambling sites. The bill would set the penalty for violations of the law at up to five years in prison, and would also set a large fine. Furthermore, the bill contains content that broadens the current definitions of gambling to include fantasy sports leagues and other such activities. However, the online gambling expert pointed out that, even if the bill passes, it will not change very much at all. Already, most U.S. banks will not do business directly with online gambling venues. Instead, hosts of new companies have sprung up to cover the slack in the market. One such company is NETeller, which an e- commerce facilitation service based on the Isle of Man. According to the company’s website, over 2.3 million people used the service to transfer $3.4 billion in 2004 alone.
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