World-Herald editorial: Best bet is to retain Internet gambling ban

Internet gambling, supposedly marginalized by a virtual ban passed by Congress in 2006, is climbing back into the national consciousness — and, its proponents hope, into Americans’ bank accounts. The idea is as bad now as it was then.

The 2006 law, passed by Congress and signed by President George W. Bush, banned online poker and most other online gambling, as well as prohibiting credit-card companies and other payment methods from handling transactions to settle Internet gambling debts. The thing is, portions of the law weren’t to go into effect until Dec. 1, 2009 — a startling delay for such an important matter.

Then, as that date approached, the Washington Post reported that gambling interests, banks and other financial institutions lobbied for another delay. They charged that the law was vague and unenforceable, and they got what they wanted. The effective date of the legislation was put off until June by the Obama administration.

That will give opponents more time to push new legislation through Congress to invalidate the ban. The House is currently considering a proposal by U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., to legalize and regulate poker, mah-jongg and similar online betting games. Poker in particular has exploded in popularity around the country in recent years.

Frank’s proposal would require international Internet gambling companies to get five-year U.S. licenses. It includes provisions, the Post reported, that are supposed to exclude underage players, compulsive gamblers and criminal activity. Still illegal: online sports betting.

Another House bill being considered would levy a 2 percent tax on gambling deposits, which could raise $42 billion over 10 years. Similar Senate legislation would legalize online poker and other “games of skill.”

There are enticements to revenue-hungry elected officials in Internet gambling. U.S. gamblers already account for half of the $16 billion spent over the Internet worldwide on gambling, according to a recent report in the Washington Post. If Washington could legalize and capture that activity, it would net billions of dollars in licensing fees and taxes.

The arguments against legalization are, however, solid. It would almost certainly prove an extremely addictive form of wagering. The National Football League, religious groups and other Internet gambling opponents argue that online betting would encourage criminal activity and threaten children.

Indeed, when University of Nebraska Athletic Director Tom Osborne served in the House, he vehemently opposed Internet gambling. The activity, he said then, can have a “particularly insidious” impact on college students because they have ready access to credit cards and computers in their dorm rooms.

“It’s really easy to get in over your head,” he said. “A lot of college students are very vulnerable, and there’s a high level of addiction.”

Then there is the nature of the Internet itself — a “casino” of electrons and ether, accessible to anyone with a home computer, a laptop or, these days, a sophisticated cell phone. Americans already gamble online, dealing with casinos and wagering operations around the world, including Antigua, Malta and similar foreign gambling havens. How can the U.S. government control those scattered gambling sites, regulating them to prevent criminal involvement and ensuring honest transactions?

And if the government can’t regulate the companies, how will gamblers ever know when they’re being cheated? If a casino halfway across the world doesn’t pay off a winner, who enforces the deal? And when the U.S. Justice Department does manage to shut down a crooked site, six more spring up to fill the gap.

Perhaps the gambling legislation making its way through Congress will be delayed — there are far more important issues awaiting Congress, after all. The Senate, meanwhile, often proves to be more cautious on gambling issues than the House.

That gambling revenue — billions in free money, as some lawmakers look at it — may be tempting. Perhaps good sense and the best interests of all Americans will prevail. Let us hope so.

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