The House of Representatives passed the Internet Gambling Prohibition and Enforcement Act with a vote of 317 to 93. The act clarifies that the Internet is included under the Wire Act, which made it a felony to use wire communications to place wagers. From here the measure will be discussed and voted on in the Senate, so it has not become law yet, although some news authorities (like
Red Herring have reported it as if it were in fact the law of the land now.
Online gambling is an estimated $12 billion a year industry, and a huge percentage of those funds come from the United States. It boggles my mind that we're not going to try to regulate and tax that spending. When an activity is made illegal, then what the government has done is eliminate the possibility that a consumer will be protected by the law. That's why the Wire Act put the reins to sports betting activities firmly in the hand of the neighborhood bookie at the tavern, and possibly also in the hands of organized crime.
A responsible government move would have been to pass legislation requiring regulation and oversight of online gambling activities. Unfortunately, this didn't happen. Whether it was because of lobbying on the behalf of land-based casinos who are worried that Internet gambling will interfere with their profits or because the "moral majority" controls the legislature, I don't know. Government paternalism is obviously government hypocrisy in this case, since lotteries are exempted from the legislation's provisions.
Some interesting places where you can read more about the recent legislation include: