US Lawmakers are still getting themselves tied up in each other’s agendas. A bill set to ban online gambling outright in the US was withdrawn last Tuesday before if could even fail – which wouldn’t have been the first time.
Realising that between them there would not be enough votes to support the passing of the bill through the House of Representatives they have chosen to rethink it instead, that is, avoid being wound up over failing, yet again, to come up with an acceptable means of criminalizing something which simply can’t be stopped and which plenty of Americans do. An estimated $2 billion is expected to leave US soil this year alone heading straight to foreign I-gaming operators.
Two Republican committee chairman and various Democrats refused to vote when they simply couldn’t see eye to eye. What amazes me is these jokers don’t really have broad differences – in fact the desire to outlaw Internet gambling is vibrant in Congress. They’re even trying to pass it under a process that prevents any future amendments to the bill once it’s passed.
Jeff Lungren, judiciary committee spokesman: 'There were a lot of people who had problems with it.”
No kidding. There seems to be roughly three distinct factions:
those that support the interests of existing legitimate US gambling businesses, such as casinos and horse tracks;
those that don’t want to see an all out ban, but can’t make up their mind where to draw the line in the ever shifting sand;
and those who not only want an all out ban, but wanted to take an even tougher stance on criminal penalties.
The bill that aims to stop online gambling by turning banks and credit card companies into online police enforcers may be down, but the referee is still counting. Remarkably the House remain optimistic and believe it will be back for another vote very quickly. As soon as everyone agrees on how to ban I-gaming. Yeah right.
With many credit companies already volunteering to reject financial transactions outside the US has anyone else noticed how it’s near impossible to buy anything on the net these days? That is specifically where one part of the transaction is in US and the other outside. Could this madness have anything to do with the madness going on in Congress? Nah, surely not. Do these people suck on lead piping between votes?@@@
Realising that between them there would not be enough votes to support the passing of the bill through the House of Representatives they have chosen to rethink it instead, that is, avoid being wound up over failing, yet again, to come up with an acceptable means of criminalizing something which simply can’t be stopped and which plenty of Americans do. An estimated $2 billion is expected to leave US soil this year alone heading straight to foreign I-gaming operators.
Two Republican committee chairman and various Democrats refused to vote when they simply couldn’t see eye to eye. What amazes me is these jokers don’t really have broad differences – in fact the desire to outlaw Internet gambling is vibrant in Congress. They’re even trying to pass it under a process that prevents any future amendments to the bill once it’s passed.
Jeff Lungren, judiciary committee spokesman: 'There were a lot of people who had problems with it.”
No kidding. There seems to be roughly three distinct factions:
those that support the interests of existing legitimate US gambling businesses, such as casinos and horse tracks;
those that don’t want to see an all out ban, but can’t make up their mind where to draw the line in the ever shifting sand;
and those who not only want an all out ban, but wanted to take an even tougher stance on criminal penalties.
The bill that aims to stop online gambling by turning banks and credit card companies into online police enforcers may be down, but the referee is still counting. Remarkably the House remain optimistic and believe it will be back for another vote very quickly. As soon as everyone agrees on how to ban I-gaming. Yeah right.
With many credit companies already volunteering to reject financial transactions outside the US has anyone else noticed how it’s near impossible to buy anything on the net these days? That is specifically where one part of the transaction is in US and the other outside. Could this madness have anything to do with the madness going on in Congress? Nah, surely not. Do these people suck on lead piping between votes?@@@
