Online Gambling May Be Coming, But States are Not For It
Representative Barney Frank has been on the forefront of legalizing online gambling in the US. He is looking out for the millions of Americans that want to gamble over the Internet, as Frank not only wants to legalize online gambling but regulate the industry as well. However, there is a group that is not in favor of Frank’s proposed legislation.
For the most part US Attorney Generals are not in favor of any kind of online gambling regulation on a federal level. The reason for this is that if the federal government licenses Internet gaming companies to offer American residents the chance to gamble online stats may be powerless to stop it.
Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller recently stated, “While I recognize that Congress considers various scenarios for plugging the deficit in the federal budget. “Our concern is that licensing and taxing Internet gambling in this way would circumvent and preempt the autonomy of state government.”
Zoeller’s comments are not only his, as there have been several Attorney Generals that have made similar statements in Washington to try to make sure that they do not regulate the Internet gambling industry. However, it looks as if Washington legislators are heading to regulate the industry, as there have been studies that have shown that by doing so would reap the US government billions of dollars in tax revenue.
The states know that if the federal government is ahead of them in regulating Internet gambling they will lose out on licensing fee rights, as well as other revenue that is derived from online gambling. This is the reason that the states of Florida, California, and New Jersey are looking into their own regulations of the online gambling industry.
Another revenue generating idea that states are looking into is sports gambling. The state of Delaware has already authorized the legalization of sports gambling and New Jersey may soon follow. However, there is a law on the federal level that will prohibit the expansion of gambling on sports within the United States.
Frank will likely start online gambling talks in the House Finance Committee in the next few months. There has been speculation that Frank may have to wait until after the elections in November before he can really begin the fight to legalize Internet gambling in the US.
