Internet Gambling: A Sketch of Legislative Proposals in the 108th Congress


 

Publication Date: November 2004

Publisher: Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

Author(s):

Research Area: Social conditions

Type:

Abstract:

The last legislative action on Internet gambling in the 108th Congress occurred when the House Committee on Financial Services included a revised version of House passed H.R. 2143 (Representative Bachus) in its report on the 9/11 Recommendation Implementation Act (H.R. 10), H.Rept. 108-724, pt.3 (2004)(§§2131-2135). No further action was taken on the provisions. H.R. 2143, the "Unlawful Internet Gambling Funding Prohibition Act," which passed the House earlier called upon federal regulators to devise and implement a regulatory scheme to identify and block financial transactions related to illegal Internet gambling and that was akin to similar provisions in S. 627 (Senator Kyl), 149 Cong.Rec. H5136-153 (daily ed. June 10, 2002). It was a stripped down version of H.R. 21 (introduced by Representative Leach and reported by both House Judiciary and Financial Services Committees, H.Rept. 108-51). Like H.R. 21, S. 627 contained regulatory provisions as well as criminal and civil enforcement mechanisms. Like H.R. 2143, S. 627 exempted financial transactions relating to a gambling business licensed or authorized under state law, like a state lottery or horse racing track, even if the transactions concerned Internet gambling where wagers were placed in states in which the gambling was illegal. This is where the H.R. 10 provisions differed from those of H.R. 2143, for H.R. 10 exempted financial transactions relating to a licensed gambling business only if the gambling were lawful both in the state in which the business operated and the state where the bet initiated. H.R. 21, and with minor exceptions S. 627, were identical to legislation passed by the House during the 107th Congress (H.R. 556). A final proposal, H.R. 1223 (Representative Conyers), established an Internet gambling licensing and regulation study commission.

Related CRS products include CRS Report RS21275, Internet Gambling: A Sketch of Legislative Proposals in the 107th Congress (from which much of this report is drawn); CRS Report 97-619, Internet Gambling: Overview of Federal Criminal Law; and CRS Report RS20485, Internet Gambling: A Sketch of Legislative Proposals in the 106th Congress.