I always said it would be either a matter of time or the Senate. Actually, I said that for a reason. I didn't just say it would be a matter of time or the Senate just to hear myself speak. I was referring to the anti-internet legislation which was in the House of Representatives. The House of Representatives had two bills on the table for this past year which they have been trying their best to get through, H.R. 4411 and H.R. 4777.

H.R.4411 is a rather benign bill. If passed into law it would make it illegal for a financial institution to deposit directly into an internet casino, poker room, or sports book. I say it is a benign bill because if it passed there's a very simple solution to get around it. Open a Neteller account and use that to deposit into the online casino, poker room, or sports book of your choice. This is legal as Neteller is simply a deposit method and not a gambling website. Neteller is located in Britain, where internet gambling is legal, so once your money was there you could do with it what you liked.

Introduced by Virginian Republican Representative Robert Goodlatte, H.R.4777 on the other hand, is a monster of a bill which could kill the internet gambling industry as we know it. The Department of Justice was really pushing for this bill to get through, as they hate internet gambling in all of its forms. If passed the Justice Department would be able to prosecute internet gamblers, force Internet Service Providers (ISP's) to block internet websites, and there would be no more loophole as to the legality of gambling online. If ISP's were forced to block online casinos, sports books, and poker rooms then players residing in the United States would not be able to access the sites. As the majority of internet gamblers come from the United States this would crucify the industry and it would take years to recover.

So where are they now?

H.R. 4777 has gone pretty far into the voting process in the House of Representatives. According to GovTrack.us the bill is still open, "Jul 10, 2006: Referred sequentially to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce for a period ending not later than Sept. 15, 2006 for consideration of such provisions of the bill and amendment as fall within the jurisdiction of that committee pursuant to clause 1(f), rule X." This means that if the Energy and Commerce committee can sort out the bill satisfactorily they will set it up for a general vote. Congress has a month long break starting August 4th and they end early this year due to elections on November 7th. This means there is a shorter amount of time to get H.R. 4777 through, and it looks now like it is dead in the water.

In contrast H.R.4411 did get through the House of Representatives and now it's up for vote in the Senate. With the Senate going on a month-long recess starting August 4th there isn't much time left for the bill to get through. For the bill to become a law the Senate must also vote it through and pass it, as it has already passed the House of Representatives. From there it will go to the president who could veto it, but probably won't. The Senate has its own agenda and priorities for what they want to rush through and vote on before their break and it looks like H.R. 4411 isn't one of them.

"I don't expect it (Senate passage of the Internet gambling bill) to happen in the next two weeks," one Republican aide said.

"It's always a possibility, but right now it is not on the schedule," another aide said.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a Tennessee Republican handles the list of priorities for the Senate and H.R.4411 was missing from his session with reporters.

There isn't much time left. Lawmakers are scheduled to return from vacation in September for several weeks, then adjourn again before the elections. If these bills don't pass before the elections then they are gone and the whole process of submitting and approvals has to go around again.

Arizona Republican Senator Jon Kyl is well aware of the deadline. Kyl has been trying to get his own anti-internet legislation passed for over eight years now. He's failed every time. Kyle tried to fast-track passage of the bill in the Senate by getting unanimous consent to approve it. According to the rumors on this issue, some lawmakers objected. This doesn't affect Kyl's stance, however. He's working full steam ahead to resolve the objections. I doubt he'll make it, looking at his track record, but you have to give the guy credit for his stamina.

Realistically there are only a few weeks left before Congress takes its break for the year. People never work as hard on something before they go on holiday and there are so many other things which are a higher priority it will take some heavy lobbying to get this to a vote. Furthermore, even if it does get to a vote there's only a small chance that it will pass.

I mentioned earlier that Frist has his own priorities for the Senate. According to his website (http://frist.senate.gov/) he's interested in lowering America's dependence on foreign fuel (like gasoline from the Middle East) and immigration reform. With issues like this on the table why should he waste his time with something small and insignificant like online gambling?

The people of the United States deserve that their elected officials represent their needs and focus on important issues. The choice to gamble online should be left up to the individual. Telling people how to spend their hard earned money is not the job of the US government. They can't even balance their own budget, where do they get the right to tell someone what to do with their entertainment dollar? This is not a nanny state which condemns gambling on a whole. This is a country which prides itself on freedom.

Posted on: July 26, 2006

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