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By Megan Boehnke
POST-DISPATCH WASHINGTON BUREAU
11/15/2007
WASHINGTON — A year after Congress passed a ban on Internet gambling, professional poker players and online software experts squared off against the Justice Department and gambling critics on Wednesday as a House committee examined how the law is working. RELATED BLOG
Read more news and insight from the nation's capital in our DC Download blog
Worries that the ban is receiving "selective enforcement" led to the Judiciary Committee hearing Wednesday, where U.S. Attorney Catherine Hanaway of St. Louis defended the Justice Department's prosecutions. She said the department considers all forms of online betting illegal and dangerous, posing an "unacceptable risk" of gambling by minors and compulsive bettors.
But Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., said members have received complaints that exceptions in the law for some forms of gambling, such as horse racing, led him and others to ask whether the ban is fair.
The law made it illegal to transfer money from financial institutions to Internet gambling sites and includes exceptions for horse racing, state lotteries and some fantasy sports.
New regulations proposed by the Treasury Department as part of the ban would allow those forms of online gambling to continue, Conyers said.
"Continuing with the same old failed policies for the sake of feel-good politics doesn't make sense," he said.
Supporters of the law pointed to its overwhelming 317-93 passage in the House and cited social problems associated with gambling addictions.
Thomas McClusky, a vice president of the Family Research Council, told the story of a 19-year-old Lehigh University student so addicted to online poker that he robbed a bank to settle his debt. Greg Hogan, whose father is a minister in Barberton, Ohio, is now serving a prison sentence of 22 months to 10 years.
"His family and other families continue to suffer as those they love become obsessed with Internet gambling," McClusky said. "When you add the anonymity of the Internet, the troubles caused by gambling increase exponentially."
Opponents of the ban say those cases are extremes, not the norm for most online gamblers.
Gambling opponents unfairly point to addicts and underage bettors, contended Annie Duke, the highest female money winner in tournament poker history.
Duke, who represented the Poker Player's Alliance, pointed to licensing and regulations of online gambling as a "less intrusive" means of thwarting the social problems.
"Frankly, if the government is going to ban every activity that can lead to harmful compulsion, the government is going to have to ban nearly every activity," she said. "Shopping, day trading, sex, chocolate, even drinking water."
As the debate continues, it's unclear whether there will be any challenges to the law or the Treasury Department's regulations, which detail the kinds of financial transactions that are illegal.
In the meantime, Hanaway said the Justice Department will continue prosecuting Internet gambling violators, and while the government has ample authority to make cases against the law-breakers without last year's ban, she wouldn't recommend scrapping it.
POST-DISPATCH WASHINGTON BUREAU
11/15/2007
WASHINGTON — A year after Congress passed a ban on Internet gambling, professional poker players and online software experts squared off against the Justice Department and gambling critics on Wednesday as a House committee examined how the law is working. RELATED BLOG
Read more news and insight from the nation's capital in our DC Download blog
Worries that the ban is receiving "selective enforcement" led to the Judiciary Committee hearing Wednesday, where U.S. Attorney Catherine Hanaway of St. Louis defended the Justice Department's prosecutions. She said the department considers all forms of online betting illegal and dangerous, posing an "unacceptable risk" of gambling by minors and compulsive bettors.
But Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., said members have received complaints that exceptions in the law for some forms of gambling, such as horse racing, led him and others to ask whether the ban is fair.
The law made it illegal to transfer money from financial institutions to Internet gambling sites and includes exceptions for horse racing, state lotteries and some fantasy sports.
New regulations proposed by the Treasury Department as part of the ban would allow those forms of online gambling to continue, Conyers said.
"Continuing with the same old failed policies for the sake of feel-good politics doesn't make sense," he said.
Supporters of the law pointed to its overwhelming 317-93 passage in the House and cited social problems associated with gambling addictions.
Thomas McClusky, a vice president of the Family Research Council, told the story of a 19-year-old Lehigh University student so addicted to online poker that he robbed a bank to settle his debt. Greg Hogan, whose father is a minister in Barberton, Ohio, is now serving a prison sentence of 22 months to 10 years.
"His family and other families continue to suffer as those they love become obsessed with Internet gambling," McClusky said. "When you add the anonymity of the Internet, the troubles caused by gambling increase exponentially."
Opponents of the ban say those cases are extremes, not the norm for most online gamblers.
Gambling opponents unfairly point to addicts and underage bettors, contended Annie Duke, the highest female money winner in tournament poker history.
Duke, who represented the Poker Player's Alliance, pointed to licensing and regulations of online gambling as a "less intrusive" means of thwarting the social problems.
"Frankly, if the government is going to ban every activity that can lead to harmful compulsion, the government is going to have to ban nearly every activity," she said. "Shopping, day trading, sex, chocolate, even drinking water."
As the debate continues, it's unclear whether there will be any challenges to the law or the Treasury Department's regulations, which detail the kinds of financial transactions that are illegal.
In the meantime, Hanaway said the Justice Department will continue prosecuting Internet gambling violators, and while the government has ample authority to make cases against the law-breakers without last year's ban, she wouldn't recommend scrapping it.