Goodlatte Launches Latest Online Gambling Bill
Published: Thursday, February 16, 2006 Online-Casinos.com
GOODLATTE LAUNCHES LATEST ANTI-ONLINE GAMBLING BILL
Blames failure of previous attempts on lobbyist "misinformation"
Arguably America's most stubborn legislator, Representative Bob Goodlatte is on the prohibition trail again with a media release announcing that he plans to launch yet another anti-online gambling Bill this week.
A release from the politician's office says that he will reintroduce a bill this week that would prohibit Internet gambling, a fast-growing industry currently valued at about $12 billion.
Republican Goodlatte first introduced legislation to ban online gambling almost 10 years ago and has faced successive defeats on the measures.
A spokesperson from his office said that in 2000 and 2001 his Bills at that time had strong support in the House but were unexpectedly derailed due in part to efforts by Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who represented gambling interests and was accused of misinformation, according to the spokeswoman.
Abramoff pleaded guilty to fraud charges in early January 2006 and is now cooperating with prosecutors in a corruption probe that could implicate lawmakers and officials across Washington.
Recent reports (see earlier InfoPowa bulletins) have confirmed that another anti-gaming politician, Jon Kyl and his staff have been working in close cooperation with fellow legislator Jim Leach, who also has a Bill with similar objectives.
Goodlatte's spokeswoman said details about the new bill would be released shortly. Other sponsors of the bill will be fellow Virginia Republicans Rick Boucher and Frank Wolf, she said. The previous version of Goodlatte's bill would make it illegal to use the Internet for gambling and give law enforcement officials the authority to stop credit card payments to offshore Internet gambling sites.
The Goodlatte prohibition Bills have differed from efforts by Leach and Sen. Jon Kyl in that they seek to amend the federal Wire Act to specify unequivocally that remote forms of gambling are illegal. The efforts of Leach and Kyl focus instead on preventing the financial transactions that facilitate online gambling from taking place.
The media alert from Goodlatte's office claims that: "Abramoff's total disregard for the legislative process has allowed Internet gambling to continue thriving and it's now a $12 billion industry. The Internet Gambling Prohibition Act is vital to protect our children and communities from the problems of addiction, crime, bankruptcy and family difficulties that come from gambling."
Shares in two European gaming companies, PartyGaming and 888 Holdings fell briefly in Tuesday trading due to concerns about new U.S. legislation, according to traders.
