WASHINGTON, July 3 — While Internet gamblers lay down big money on World Cup soccer this summer, teams of lobbyists are facing off on Capitol Hill in a contest over whether the United States should choke off the growth of wagering on the Web.
Faced with bills to curb online betting, which attracts an estimated $12 billion a year in wagers worldwide, an array of interest groups like casinos here and abroad, as well as sports leagues, antigambling coalitions and even poker players, has dispatched lobbyists to argue what should be legal and what should not.
Major League Baseball wants to make sure that any measures do not diminish fantasy sports games, which it credits for a resurgence in its popularity.
The big Las Vegas casinos, which have been neutral over online betting, have embraced a proposal in the House to establish a study commission. Convenience stores are watching to see whether sales of lottery tickets might be affected, though Powerball seems to be safe for now.
The horse racing industry seems sanguine, but dog tracks are worried. Offshore casinos are fighting any restrictions.
The Justice Department has always considered Internet gambling illegal. But that has not stopped online wagering from flourishing.
Gambling opponents are pushing for bills to put teeth into enforcement. In the House, proponents of a crackdown merged two bills. The majority leader, Representative John A. Boehner, Republican of Ohio, announced a few days ago that the measure would be voted on this summer as part of what the Republicans call their American Values Agenda.
The odds of a bill's becoming law this year appear long. Beyond that, nearly everyone agrees that online betting may be unstoppable because of the reach of the Internet and the difficulty in regulating its activity.
This is so ridiculous.
Internet gambling is something like a $12 billion/year industry despite the fact that, as the article points out, Internet gambling is already considered illegal by the U.S. Justice Department. Tons of people are doing it. I know people who do it. I'm sure most of you reading this know people who do it (whether you're aware of it or not). Stopping people from doing it is going to be nearly impossible unless the government gets into the business of locating and blocking online gambling sites from American internet users. Something that would require both the cooperation of every single ISP in America along with a massive bureaucratic agency that would like cost Americans billions of dollars.
So why are we even trying to stop this? Why is this part of a push toward "American Values?" Plenty of Americans gamble. Las Vegas is one of the most popular vacation destination in America. I don't think there are many people who view gambling as being all that immoral, and banning the activity is going to be costly...if it's even possible at all.
So why try? Aren't there better problems for the Republican majority to be tackling? Like, I don't know, Social Security reform? You know, something that is actually a problem facing this country?