Exile on Main Street
Internet Gambling's Amazing Winning Streak
IN A NUTSHELL: AMERICANS ARE LOSERS IN THIS GAME
Internet gambling revenues in 2003 reached approximately $5 Billion. Of this amount, 50% came from U.S. gamblers. Virtually every nation that has a legal Internet gambling regulation system, including Australia, Antigua, Barbuda and Costa Rica, view Internet gambling as a lucrative “export commodity.” South Africa and its domestic gambling industry have identified Internet gambling as a potential source of up to $140 Million in foreign exchange within two years, and in pursuit of that goal, are establishing an encouraging regulatory environment to aid online expansion by South African land-based casinos.
CONGRESS WANTS TO STUDY THE ISSUE
Meanwhile, the U.S., the primary source of all this online wagering activity, is completely without a coherent Internet gambling legal policy. During year 2000, both the proposed “Internet Gambling Prohibition Act of 1999,” and the “Internet Gambling Funding Prohibition Act” failed to pass Congress, but served to flesh out the positions of the major credit card companies and the Department of Justice. Both, effectively, opposed outright prohibition of Internet gambling and credit card-funded wagering. Admittedly, these two interest groups had different reasons for their opposition. The lobbyist for Visa USA, Inc. claimed that credit card companies lacked the technical ability to identify the origins of bets, and could not engage in legal decisions to determine whether particular bets were coming from jurisdictions where the wagers could be lawfully placed. Visa USA, Inc. thus argued that the regulations being proposed by Congress would be unduly burdensome for the credit card industry. Recently, Congressman John Conyers submitted a bill to establish a commission to study the issue.
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IN A NUTSHELL: AMERICANS ARE LOSERS IN THIS GAME
Internet gambling revenues in 2003 reached approximately $5 Billion. Of this amount, 50% came from U.S. gamblers. Virtually every nation that has a legal Internet gambling regulation system, including Australia, Antigua, Barbuda and Costa Rica, view Internet gambling as a lucrative “export commodity.” South Africa and its domestic gambling industry have identified Internet gambling as a potential source of up to $140 Million in foreign exchange within two years, and in pursuit of that goal, are establishing an encouraging regulatory environment to aid online expansion by South African land-based casinos.
CONGRESS WANTS TO STUDY THE ISSUE
Meanwhile, the U.S., the primary source of all this online wagering activity, is completely without a coherent Internet gambling legal policy. During year 2000, both the proposed “Internet Gambling Prohibition Act of 1999,” and the “Internet Gambling Funding Prohibition Act” failed to pass Congress, but served to flesh out the positions of the major credit card companies and the Department of Justice. Both, effectively, opposed outright prohibition of Internet gambling and credit card-funded wagering. Admittedly, these two interest groups had different reasons for their opposition. The lobbyist for Visa USA, Inc. claimed that credit card companies lacked the technical ability to identify the origins of bets, and could not engage in legal decisions to determine whether particular bets were coming from jurisdictions where the wagers could be lawfully placed. Visa USA, Inc. thus argued that the regulations being proposed by Congress would be unduly burdensome for the credit card industry. Recently, Congressman John Conyers submitted a bill to establish a commission to study the issue.
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