Congressional Commission Proposed to Study Impact of Online Gambling

Home > Internet Casino News > Congressional Commission Proposed to Study Impact of Online Gambling

United States Congress - US Capital Building Legalization, tax implications among subjects to be considered

July 26, 2006

The American Gaming Association (AGA) may be softening its stance against online gambling, and a bill before Congress could begin efforts to study legalization and regulatory options.

In late April, the AGA board announced it strongly supports the creation of a one-year Congressional study commission that would evaluate the impacts of online gambling.

On May 23, the association released a study calling for the Congressional commission advocated by the board. One day later, Rep. Jon Porter (R-NV) introduced the Internet Gambling Study Commission Act, to establish a commission to examine the impact of online gambling. The bill has 42 co-sponsors.

"With technology constantly evolving, we need a much better understanding of online gambling before Congress makes any rash decisions about its future," Porter said in announcing the bill. "By establishing a bipartisan, independent study commission, we'll make sure we have all of the facts laid out on the table before considering any possible next steps."

Internet Gambling Growing Fast

Online gambling has mushroomed in recent years, growing about 20 percent a year worldwide, to an estimated $12 billion of revenues to online gaming operators in 2005, according to AGA spokesperson Holly Thomsen. More than $4 billion of that amount is accounted for by online gamblers in the United States.

The actual amounts bet far exceed the revenues. U.S. online gamblers placed about $145 billion in bets in 2005, approximately half the total amount wagered online worldwide. The estimated $4 billion of revenue from U.S. online gambling represents the "hold," the amount kept by the online casinos after gamblers' gains and losses are totaled up.

The AGA study, "An Analysis of Internet Gambling and its Policy Implications," notes those billions of U.S. dollars were bet at offshore, non-U.S. entities. The U.S. Department of Justice and several state governments have held that Internet gambling is illegal in the United States, but offshore purveyors of online gambling apparently have little trouble attracting U.S. citizens.

Revenues Going Overseas

"By driving all Internet gambling business to foreign entities, the current regime also ensures that no jobs are created for American workers, no returns are earned by American companies, and no tax revenues are paid to American governments," wrote study author David O. Stewart, an attorney at Ropes and Gray, LLP in Washington, DC.

The United Kingdom recently legalized online gambling in hopes of regulating the industry and boosting tax revenues.

In a May 15 article for Business Week, London bureau reporter Kerry Capell wrote, "Parliament has enacted sweeping new legislation that will open up the online market, starting next year, to traditional casino games such as poker, blackjack, and roulette. Britons already play such games by the millions, but the companies offering them are based in offshore tax havens such as Gibraltar, the Channel Islands, and Costa Rica. The government hopes that by becoming the first country in the developed world to legalize online gambling, it can lure offshore outfits to locate on British soil and pump even more revenues into public coffers."

Technologies Improve Oversight

The AGA's Thomsen said the organization, which represents gambling casinos, has long been opposed to online gambling "in principle" and neutral on industry-related legislation. The AGA last year began discussing whether its opposition in principle to online gambling should be changed. Thomsen said this is largely because new technologies that have been developed since the advent of online gambling may make regulation and oversight more tenable.

"We didn't believe technology existed to provide for rigorous enforcement and oversight" of online gambling, Thomsen said. "But it's been more than a decade since online gambling has come on the scene, and there have been a lot of improvements in technology."

Thomsen also said there is no evidence online gambling has taken money away from traditional casinos.

Source: Heartland Institute

Discuss this News with other readers.