Congress Battles Yet Again: 3

The Birmingham News article that was recently released regarding the regulations for online casinos in the United States and how the stakes are high with this $16 billion global internet gambling industry. Spencer Bachus has supported the UIGEA from the beginning and he supports the senators that originally supported the ban on the online casino industry in the United States. The people who originally supported the online casino ban were Senators Jon Kyl and Bill Frist ever so cleverly attached to the Safe Ports Act, which was a bill that had to pass. Bachus says that online casino play and its convenience will only encourage gambling addictions within the youth of the US.

Bachus says that it is one thing to go to a land based casino and spend your money as you please, but it is quite another to have an online casino available to you twenty four hours a day. His fear is that minors will become addicted to online casinos and get themselves into deep debt before they turn 18. This has been one of the most debated topic in Congress since the passing of the Act in 2006. One argument is whether or not the government has the right to tell law abiding citizens how they can or cannot spend their time and money. Especially since these decisions would be perfectly legal for them to make in a land based casino but not legal for them to make from their own home. Congress did initially pass this Act but it has been seen as an overstep in the authority of what government officials can tell its people they can do.

One representative, Democrat Shelley Berkley told the Birmingham News that: "The clock is ticking on President Bush's prohibitionist crusade against Internet gaming and that is clearly why these flawed regulations are being forced on the financial services industry at the very last minute." The online casino supporters are hoping that with a new administration will come new hope for online casinos everywhere. One spokesman for the Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative, Michael Waxman said, "We think not only is Congress going to have the incentive to move on legislation ... because of the flawed rules attempting to ban the activity, but Congress is going to realize it's much better to look to protect consumers and collect billions in tax revenue,"