June 8, 2007
Legalizing Net gambling? There's a chance
Declan McCullagh, for News.com
Opponents of a federal ban on Internet gambling said during a congressional hearing Friday that it would be wiser to legalize and regulate betting than prohibit it.
"In the end, adults ought to be able to decide for themselves how they spend the money they earn themselves," said Rep. Barney Frank, the Democratic chairman of the House Financial Services committee and primary backer of the legalization effort.
Friday's hearing included witnesses from companies that process online payments. In general, they echoed the arguments once used in favor of ending alcohol prohibition and that are now being invoked to decriminalize marijuana: It's better to legalize, tax and carefully regulate an industry than let it flourish with far less oversight in the black market.
Some countries already do just that. In the United Kingdom, for instance, Internet gambling is legal and strictly regulated. Some of the larger online casino operators are publicly traded on the London Stock Exchange.
"On the basis of my experience I can unequivocally state that Internet gambling can be regulated, and that abuses can be effectively regulated and controlled," said Jon Prideaux, a consultant who until last year was the head of Visa Europe's Internet arm.
A law that President Bush signed last year tried to eliminate many forms of online gambling by targeting Internet service providers and financial intermediaries, namely banks and credit card companies that process payments to offshore Web sites. The bill never received a formal vote in the entire Congress but instead was glued onto an unrelated port security bill that the Senate unanimously approved.
Now the pro-legalization forces are trying to marshal a counterattack....
http://www.nytimes.com/cnet/CNET_21...82139200&en=0fed6f2e914c794f&ei=5070&emc=eta1
