Friday, March 14, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

INTERNET GAMBLING: House panel passes Net bet ban

Divergent views over bill prompt spirited debate

WASHINGTON -- After a spirited debate, a House panel on Thursday passed by voice vote a bill to prohibit Internet gambling by outlawing payments via credit cards, wire transfers or any other bank instruments for online wagers.

The approval by the House Financial Services Committee advances the Internet gambling ban proposal of Rep. Jim Leach, R-Iowa, to the House floor.

House leaders must decide whether to schedule a vote on the Leach bill or wait on an alternative offered Wednesday by Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich.,

Conyers' bill, which has been referred to the House Judiciary Committee, would establish a federal commission to study the feasibility of regulating Internet gambling.

The absence of a recorded vote by the House Financial Services Committee belied the sharply divergent views on Internet gambling expressed by members of the same political party.

Rep. Spencer Bachus, R-Ala., said Internet gambling should be banned to prevent virtual casinos from coming into homes.

"They're coming into your bedroom and offering your children an opportunity to gamble, and it's time to put an end to it," Bachus said.

But another Republican, Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, said he opposed the Leach bill because Congress should not be in the business of regulating behavior.

"Once we decide that government's role is to protect us from ourselves, we really open a Pandora's box," Paul said. "This whole idea that (Internet gambling is) an invasion of our house is incorrect because you know you do have the brain to turn off a machine."

Democrats also disagreed among themselves on the Leach legislation.

"I believe you should have to leave your house to lose your house," said Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif., a supporter of the Leach bill. "Even in Nevada, they don't bring the roulette wheel to your home."

Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., who opposed Leach's proposal, told Sherman, "I don't think it's any of the government's business when you leave your house; why you leave your house; what you do in your house or what you do when you go out of your house."

Leach said his legislation would not prohibit any form of gambling that is already legal. But Internet gambling is illegal, Leach said, and his bill would enforce the law against online wagering.

"Gambling, for instance, on the Internet is the ideal methodology for money laundering, for narco traffickers and for terrorists," Leach said.

Wagers placed at offshore gambling sites cost the U.S. economy between $4 billion and $10 billion a year, Leach said.