February 5, 2002

Dear Colleagues:

We are writing to invite you to consider becoming a co-sponsor of H.R. 556, the "Unlawful Internet Gambling Funding Prohibition Act." Gambling on the Internet is fast becoming one of the most critical issues confronting thousands of American families. A number of legislative approaches have been advanced to deal with this problem, but we would like to bring your attention to a straightforward approach to address the social, economic, and criminal consequences of Internet gambling.

H.R. 556 directly constrains Internet gambling by eliminating the principal settlement mechanisms Internet casinos, which primarily operate off-shore, use. The bill makes it a crime for a gambling business to accept credit cards, checks, or fund transfers in connection with unlawful Internet gambling. The bill is not in conflict with, or intended to change, what is deemed to be unlawful Internet gambling under current law or under any proposed legislation. This is the principle province of the Judiciary Committee.

We personally believe greater definitional restrictions on gambling are in order and support the efforts of Bob Goodlatte and others to tighten law in this area, but whether or not such efforts reach fruition, H.R. 556 creates a workable enforcement mechanism under current law or future law to allow Federal and State authorities to combat the effects of illegal Internet gambling.

The Financial Services Committee passed out H.R. 556 on October 31, 2001 with strong bipartisan support. The Committee also voted to include this bill in the Financial Anti-Terrorism Act because Internet gambling is a well-known technique for money laundering and identity theft. Attached is a article from the New York Times that describes some of the issues surrounding Internet gambling and illustrates the effectiveness of this approach.

H.R. 556 is modeled after the major recommendations of the 1999 National Gambling Impact Study. This enforcement approach is supported by organizations like the Christian Coalition and the NCAA. In addition, several leading banks and credit card companies are beginning on their own to experiment with similar techniques to combat the Internet gambling problem. If you would like more information or would like to become a co-sponsor, please contact Amanda Kueter at 5-6576 or amanda.kueter@mail.house.gov.

Sincerely,

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Michael Oxley
Chairman, Financial Services Committee
James A. Leach
Member of Congress