Legalise It!!

It is estimated that the legalisation of online gambling in the United States would bring in annual revenue of $42 billion for the economy, surely a good move given the current economic climate? With the credit crunch beginning to abate, the move to legalise online gambling would surely tip the scales of balance in a positive direction (although I suspect that the scales are best placed even!) You would expect then, given the massive amounts of money that are involved congress should surely be jumping at the opportunity. But, this is not happening, why?

 
Although there is a large minority of congress people who are hoping to lift the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, or UIGEA as it is commonly referred to, there is still a significant majority who are continuing to reject any moves towards a U-turn on the Act. The bill was introduced in 2006t when a republican government was in charge of congress, it caused a lot of controversy amongst citizens, and not only amongst those who like to gamble. The bill was legally filed under the Safe Port Act 2006, so that if people attempted to vote against the move, this was clever ‘marketing’ indeed, because any opposition to the bill would appear as anti-patriotism, a vote towards a lessening of national security levels, in view of the fear of terrorism that is still rife in America following 9.11, it is unsurprising that the bill passed quietly. Not only that, congress passed the bill late at night, so by the time it became constitutionalised, it was too late for anyone to do anything about it- how sly is that?

Once the bill came into effect, those groups who were keen to maintain the online gambling industry up and running in America, came into the issue kicking and screaming, arguing that the bill infringed on basic human rights in the country, namely the freedom of information, one of the key conceptualisations behind the idea of the internet. Then came the overblown statements by many in congress, associating the gambling industry with other vices such as the drugs industry and pornography, choosing to ignore the likes of Atlantic City and Las Vegas in their arguments, of course.

Many have said that the criminalisation of online gambling is largely due to financial, and not moral, issues. The online industry would not necessarily guarantee that the US would get revenues, as much money would be going to those companies based outside the country. In short they did not like the economic implications and prefer to keep their economy as one directional as possible, i.e. they like taking money from the rest of the world, but fear greatly letting any out and do all they can to stop them.

 
But, good news is on the horizon, it seems that more and more members of congress are signing up to the overturn the original ban. There are a variety of different bills that could overthrow the UIGEA and the outlook is good for the chances of the online gambling industry becoming legal once and for all, and possibly as soon as next month, but most likely early in 2010.

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