With the House of Representatives adjourned, soon to be followed by the Senate, it appears that the Internet Gambling Prohibition Act is dead for this session of Congress. Will it be back next year? You bet!
Senator Jon Kyl-R of Arizona was a rabid supporter of a bill to ban internet gambling within the confines of the United States. He was joined in his efforts by the likes of the National Assn. of Attorneys General, the National Football League, the NCAA, the Coalition Against Legalized Gambling and Ralph Nader, who upon further investigation has simply thrown in with the aforenamed coalition and is against all forms of gambling.
At times, even recently, it seemed that the legislation was like a steamroller, finally breaking loose of logjams in the Senate to gain a not surprising 90-10 vote. After all, who will be FOR internet gaming (other than lots of consumers who are still struggling to find their voice.) While unsuccessful in getting his ban moving as a freestanding bill, Kyl was able to gain support to add it to an unrelated appropriations bill. (Where we come from, the state legislators call that a Christmas tree ornament...it's now illegal.)
But, a combination of factors kept the bill from progressing in the House of Representatives. There were procedural problems...the House has a more reasonable policy that suggests that amendments actually have to have some relationship to the subject of a bill to which it's attached...at least when it comes to appropriations.
Another factor was a mixture of special interests, most of which were working hard to get their exemptions written into the bill. These varied from fantasy sports, to the horseracing industry, to Indian tribes who offer or aspire to offer gaming. Then throw in the internet folks, free speech and commerce advocates, and you'll get some significant roadblocks.
There were even rational calls to let the Congressionally sanctioned National Gambling Impact Study Commission do its job of exploring and recommending an approach for handling internet gaming. Unfortunately, we've also run some recent stories which have show that the NGISC is plagued by some other allegations which will likely divert its attention from its important task.
Not the least of the concerns was a Justice Department analysis of the bill which pointed out all the legislation's warts and, quite frankly, couldn't find much good to say about the it. Others pointed to the hypocrisy of exemptions such as those for the state lotteries in such a prohibition.
But clearly, the biggest factor was one noone could have ever guessed when the bill was introduced in March '97...namely, Monica. The very House Committee, Judiciary, which was charged with exploring the Internet Gambling Prohibition Act was also the one which was passed the Starr Report...and a real hot potato..... near the end of the session.
From there, the clock just ran out.
But Senator Kyl will not be appeased. He's stumbled on an issue which has gotten him a lot of ink and the bill will surely rear its ugly head again in February when the new Congress is seated.
Will policy-makers take the time to learn about the internet and the technology to realize the folly of a blanket prohibition? Probably not.
But, one bright note is that there's an increasing awareness among those countries which are embracing internet gaming that international cooperation is critical. Not that the US Congress really cares about what's going on in other globally. But, if a viable method of regulating internet gaming can be developed in the short-term future, it will hopefully have some affect on cooler heads in Congress which see the future online.