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21 June
2008 House
Committee To Vote On Suspending Internet Gambling
Ban Over in the USA,
on June 24, 2008, the House Committee on Financial
Services will mark up legislation, H.R. 5767, that
would prohibit the Department of the Treasury and
Federal Reserve System from proposing, prescribing
or implementing any regulations related to the
current ban on internet gambling, as required by
the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of
2006 (UIGEA). "Congress has
studied this issue and heard from the financial
services community and federal regulators that the
current ban on internet gambling is burdensome and
doomed to fail. Now it is time for Congress to
change course and find a way to protect the
millions of Americans that are continuing to gamble
online," said Jeffrey Sandman, spokesperson for the
Safe and Secure Internet Gambling
Initiative. H.R. 5767 was
introduced by Reps. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and Ron
Paul (R-Texas) on April 11, 2008. The introduction
followed a hearing entitled, "Proposed UIGEA
Regulations: Burden without Benefit?" in the House
Committee on Financial Service's Subcommittee on
Domestic and International Monetary Policy, Trade,
and Technology. Reps. Frank and Paul stated in
their press release accompanying the introduction
of H.R. 5767, "it was clear at the hearing that the
regulations are unworkable for the financial
services industry, and this bill would, therefore
prohibit their implementation." Representatives
of the U.S. Department of the Treasury and Federal
Reserve System acknowledged at the hearing the
challenges U.S. financial institutions will face in
attempting to comply with UIGEA. Testimony was also
heard from representatives from the Credit Union
National Association, Financial Services
Roundtable, American Bankers Association and Wells
Fargo & Co., who spoke about the unnecessary
burden they would face given the ambiguity of UIGEA
and the potential confusion with the chance of
multiple interpretations of what may or may not be
illegal activities. Last year, Rep.
Frank introduced the Internet Gambling Regulation
and Enforcement Act (H.R. 2046) that would regulate
internet gambling. The bill requires internet
gambling operators licensed by FinCEN to put in
place safeguards to protect against underage and
compulsive gambling and ensure the integrity of
financial transactions while at the same time
reinforcing the rights of States to control what,
if any, level of internet gambling is permissible
within their borders. A companion piece
of legislation to the Frank bill introduced by Rep.
Jim McDermott (D-Wash.), the Internet Gambling
Regulation and Tax Enforcement Act of 2008 (H.R.
5523), would ensure the collection of taxes on
regulated internet gambling activities. According
to a tax revenue analysis prepared by
PricewaterhouseCoopers, taxation of regulated
internet gambling is expected to generate between
$8.7 billion to $42.8 billion in federal revenues
over its first 10 years. |
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