Legislation
Aimed At Offshore Casinos
The
overwhelming vote to prohibit the use of credit cards, checks
and electronic fund transfers to pay for online wagers ended
feuding among House committee chairmen over details of legislation
aimed at blocking U.S. consumers from participating in illegal
offshore Internet gaming.
Supporters
said the bill should add momentum to similar legislation pending
in the Senate.
'Congress is as close as it has ever been to enacting an outright
ban on unscrupulous Internet casino operations,' said Sen.
Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., whose bill in the Senate mirrors the legislation
passed by the House.
Debate on the bill, crafted by Republicans Spencer Bachus
of Alabama and Mike Oxley of Ohio, was postponed twice in
the past week as House leaders tried to reconcile amendments
sought by powerful committee leaders.
The key vote Tuesday came on such an amendment.
The House voted 237-186 to reject an effort by Rep. James
Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., to delete exemptions in the bill for
state lotteries and legal gambling businesses such as horse
racing and jai alai. The biggest critic of the amendment was
the man widely regarded as the leading voice in Congress against
all forms of gambling -- Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., who dismissed
Sensenbrenner's amendment as a 'poison pill that looks good'
but would lessen support for an Internet gambling ban. As
well as pointedly walking by Sensenbrenner and ignoring him
after his comments, Wolf also feverishly ran about distributing
flyers during the vote.
The defeat of Sensenbrenner's amendment was a big victory
for Oxley, who is chairman of the Financial Services Committee.
Oxley worked with Bachus to streamline the Internet gambling
ban after Sensenbrenner's committee voted last month to eliminate
all exemptions.
The American Gaming Association, the chief lobbying arm of
casinos, was neutral on bill before the vote.
'Now that the bill has passed, we will revisit this issue
with the board when it goes to the Senate,' claimed AGA President
Frank Fahrenkopf. 'As you know, I have personal reservations
about the ban but that does not reflect my board's view.'
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