It was like a bad dream revisited. Rewind back to July of '97 when Senator Kyl held his first Internet Gambling Prohibition Act hearing for the Senate Judiciary's Subcommittee on Technology, Terrorism and Government Information which he chairs. Same cast of characters... the National Football League (NFL), the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), with a couple of Attorneys General thrown in for good measure. The only difference was that, instead of Sen. Kyl sitting up there all by himself, he was joined by two colleagues, Senators Feinstein of California and DeWine from Ohio.
But the content and the rhetoric was the same. The Senators clearly didn't want to hear from anyone but those who felt that a "blanket" ban was the only response to internet gambling. Or from those who were now in favor of a "blanket" prohibition due to the fact that they had received an exception to the bill. This included fantasy sports, lotteries and the racing industry.
After some words from the three Senators in attendance, a brief excerpt of the recent HBO piece was shown. It featured the vacant lot in Aruba where an internet gambling site apparently existed but was actually operating out of Pennsylvania. They cut it short before Bryant Gumbel stated that regulation was the appropriate response.
Oddly enough, there was not a word spoken about the biggest change in the draft bill: the fact that it would no longer be a criminal act for bettors to play at online gaming sites. But Wisconsin Attorney General Doyle made an interesting comment as it relates to that when he said that once a prohibition bill is passed, players could "no longer look to the US for help if they had problems with an online gaming site."
Senator Kyl stated that he expected his subcommittee to "mark up" the bill sometime in April. Once it's marked up and passed out of the subcommittee, it will be passed on to the full Judiciary Committee for hearings and review.
Interactive Gaming News will be producing the testimony of the witnesses and posting it over the next few days for your viewing pleasure.