STEAMROLLER TACTICS CRITICISED

(641) (9-October-2006)

The folly of legislating leisure

The Review Journal.com has joined the many publications voicing concern at the manner in which the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act was steamrollered through Congress as a late attachment to a critical security bill recently.

Commenting on the folly of prohibition through legislation that targets leisure activity, the respected publication reports that proposer Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist was determined to please his religious right political base with a new law before November's election, no matter how flawed or misguided it might be.

"The cause was so preposterous it couldn't win passage as a stand-alone bill," the Review says. "Sen. Frist first tried to attach the Internet gambling ban to a defense appropriations bill. No luck. So he slipped it into port security legislation that passed the House and Senate early Saturday."

Tongue-in-cheek, the report goes on to claim that Sen. Frist included enough exemptions in his proposal to rival the IRS tax code.

"The bill permits Web-based betting on horse racing and for state lotteries. It also allows state-licensed casinos, once authorized within their jurisdiction, to construct Web sites with online poker and casino-style gaming. And these casinos would be allowed to provide links to other states and countries where gambling is legal," the Review reveals.

So rather than deliver a "ban," Sen. Frist merely cut off the American market from online gambling sites based in Britain and the Caribbean. "Like most heavy-handed regulations, this "ban" is really just thinly veiled protectionism," the publication concludes.

The article includes a quote from expert gambling attorney Tony Cabot , who says: "In order to get this bill passed, they (Republicans) sold their souls. They gave so many exceptions that it's now a wide-open area."