The Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) has reiterated its opposition to congressional efforts to legalize and tax Internet gambling.
ERLC President Richard Land told a House of Representatives committee by letter that it continues to support a 2006 law restricting online gambling. Regulations enforcing that law finally will go into effect June 1.
Land urged opposition to a bill pending in the Ways and Means Committee that would tax Internet gambling revenues. He also called for resistance to legislation that would legalize online gambling and authorize its regulation by the federal government.
“No amount of regulation or taxation … could make online gambling an acceptable form of business,” Land said.
“Its lure can wreak havoc on marriages, cause financial ruin and lead to lamentable actions such as child neglect, divorce and suicide. At its core, online gambling’s predatory, addictive pull exacts a tremendous cost from families and communities that far outweighs any tax revenue that the government could hope to receive from its legalization.”
The bill under consideration is the Internet Gambling Regulation and Tax Enforcement Act, H.R. 4976. Its sponsor, Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., has only four co-sponsors.
Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., is the sponsor of the Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection and Enforcement Act, H.R. 2267, which would enable the Treasury Department to license and regulate Internet gambling firms. His measure has 69 co-sponsors.
Frank said May 19 the Financial Services Committee, which he chairs, will take action on his bill in July, Congressional Quarterly reported. Land previously wrote another letter urging the members of that committee to reject Frank’s legislation.
Frank said the 2006 ban inappropriately restricts personal freedom, according to testimony prepared for the Ways and Means Committee hearing. He said the bills McDermott and he are sponsoring would protect U.S. gamblers’ consumer rights and make sure online wagering does not benefit only the operators, who are located primarily overseas.
The 2006 law effectively bars online gambling in the United States by requiring financial institutions to block credit card and other payments to Internet wagering businesses. The ERLC was among the organizations that joined the National Collegiate Athletic Association and the major professional sports leagues for baseball, basketball, football and hockey in supporting that ban.
When President Bush signed into law in October 2006 a bill containing the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, the action dealt a dramatic blow to online gambling companies. A couple of firms sold their American operations for $1 apiece, and others saw their shares fall by as much as nearly 60 percent on the London Stock Exchange. (BP)
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