Bill Passed to Outlaw Online Gambling and Poker
Wednesday July 12, 2006
Once again the US House of Representatives passed legislation that would prevent gamblers from using credit cards to bet online and could block access to gambling Web sites.
The House voted 317-93 for the bill, which would allow authorities to work with Internet providers to block access to gambling Web sites including online poker sites. Critics to the bill argued that regulating the $12 billion industry would be better than outlawing it.
A study released on Tuesday before the vote said that regulating Internet poker could bring the U.S. government some $3.3 billion in taxes annually. The amount cited is estimated just for online poker and does not reflect other online gambling