AUTHOR: Jerry "Jet" Whittaker
TITLE: 'Net poker fever
DATE: 7:01 AM
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BODY:
<p class="mobile-post">Internet gambling has been around since the mid-1990s. Today, many online
casinos are worth billions. One such company, PartyGaming, made $12 billion
last year with a $400 million profit. PartyGaming is now the 47th largest
company in the United Kingdom. "What has happened is there are now thousands
of sites out there," said Dr. William Eadington, director of the Institute
for the Study of Gambling and Commercial Gaming at the University of
Nevada-Reno. Almost all these Web sites are based outside the United States,
in places such as the United Kingdom, which legalized and regulated Internet
casino operations in 2005. Other European and Caribbean nations also allow
gambling Web sites to operate. The legality of Internet gambling in the
United States has become murky in recent years. The Wire Act of 1961, which
outlawed the transfer of money over telephone lines for gambling purposes,
has always been the basis for banning Internet casino operations in the
United States. The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans affirmed
lower court rulings that limited the Wire Act to betting on sports over the
telephone. Poker, and other casino games played online, do not fall into
this category. Congress had made many failed attempts to ban Internet gaming
until the passage of H.R. 4411, which prohibits the transfer of payment to
gaming sites. Congress approved the legislation early Saturday at the urging
of congressional Republicans led by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist.
Gregory Wierzynski, a spokesman for bill co-sponsor Rep. Jim Leach, R-Iowa,
said Leach has been discussing the issue for the past 10 years. "(Leach) is
concerned on the social consequences of online gambling, as well as the
national security issues," Wierzynski said. "FBI and State Department
officials have testified that Internet gambling is a classic way of
laundering money and transferring money to terrorist groups."</p>
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