Editor's Note: Since publishing this article, IGN has learned that the section of the Virgin Islands bill dealing with bingo games has been tabled.
-July, 9,2001
The U.S. Virgin Islands has moved a step closer to regulating online gambling. The Senate Committee on Economic Development, Agriculture and Consumer Protection passed amendments Friday to legislation that would legalize online gaming and gambling in addition to commercial bingo and charitable gaming.
Sen. Albert "Bert" Bryan, chair of the committee, said the amendments will now be sent to the Rules Committee. If it passes there, it will go to the full Senate for a vote.
R. David Oliver, the director of the Virgin Islands Gaming Enforcement arm of the Department of Justice, said his office was asked to give legal advice to the legislature for Friday's meeting, but is trying to stay as neutral to the issue as possible.
"We are not arguing any position one way or the other during this," he said. "We are just there to oversee the process and make sure everything is done legally."
Over 30 gaming experts and politicians were invited to attend the hearing, but Oliver said less than half of the invitees were in attendance.
Like the situation in Nevada, where the governor recently signed a bill that sets up the groundwork for regulating Internet gambling, the prospect of regulated online gambling in the Virgin Islands hinges on the interpretation of federal U.S. law. Any move to legalize and regulate online gambling in the United States could be derailed if the courts find the activity is in violation of the 1961 Federal Wire Act or if Congress chooses to pass a federal bill outlawing online gaming.
Oliver did say the process in the Virgin Islands could move faster than most would expect from a U.S.-related government.
The Virgin Island's legislature remains in session all year long and, unlike U.S. Congress, will not be taking a lengthy summer break.
The timetable for the bill to be passed lays in the hands of the Rules Committee in the immediate future and then the president pro tem of the Senate. But the bill cleared one of its biggest hurdles in getting passed by the Economic Development Committee.
Members had expressed some skepticism about regulating Internet gaming for fear that the territory didn't have enough capital to invest in such a move.
Oliver said the issue of banking the initiative was brought up during the hearing, but the general consensus was that the initial cost would be outweighed by whatever revenue was brought into the Islands from one of the Internet's largest growing sectors.
If the bill is passed, it could still be next summer before online casinos are up and running in the territory, according to Oliver.
Oliver also said that, as with the situation in Nevada, standards will need to be in place before the industry is given the final green light to proceed in the Virgin Islands.