U.S. Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.) is leading sponsor of a bill that would severely limit online gambling- including those ever-present ads on Internet sites and email messages that try to lure victims with the empty promise of easy winnings. Titled the “Unlawful Internet Gambling Funding Prohibition Act,” the legislation would ban the use of credit cards, debit cards or electronic transfers for Internet gambling.
Currently, Internet users can click into an online gaming ad and quickly be playing Internet slot machines, roulette or virtual poker. It is an easy draw for people in tight financial straits or someone with a gambling addiction. “Gambling targets people in desperate financial situations – it lures them with the promise of easy money,” Bachus was quoted by Focus on the Family as saying. “People find out it’s never easy and all gambling games, even state lotteries, are rigged for the house.”
With the bill’s prohibition on using electronic banking for online gambling, the skids are put on Internet gaming sites. “Essentially, when [gambling Web sites] don’t get paid, they don’t want to gamble with you,” Bachus said.
He said that there are currently some 1,500 online gambling sites, many run from locations outside the United States, and thus outside the United States, and thus outside the arm of direct federal law. Turning off the electronic money spigot would create major problems for such business.
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