Congress to Take Testimony on Internet Gambling Ban

By Matt Richtel

The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 made it illegal for banks and other financial institutions to process online wagers. The goal was to find an indirect way to regulate offshore casinos [... and sportsbooks... and real-money prediction exchanges...], which are outside the jurisdiction of American law enforcement. In short: the casinos are out of reach, but not the banks in the United States that process their transactions.

The question now is whether the banks are capable of stopping the transactions. [...] Under the gambling act, the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve were charged with coming up with rules that financial institutions would be required to follow to block gambling transactions. [...]

Congressman Barney Frank, the Massachusetts Democrat, is the chairman of the House Committee on Financial Services. He is also the author of a bill that would legalize and regulate Internet gambling – a law that would essentially override the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. [...]

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New York Times (page two):

[...] Complying with the W.T.O. ruling, Professor Jackson said, would require Congress and the Bush administration either to reverse course and permit Americans to place bets online legally with offshore casinos or, equally unlikely, impose an across-the-board ban on all forms of Internet gambling — including the online purchase of lottery tickets, participation in Web-based pro sports fantasy leagues and off-track wagering on horse racing. [...]

Steve Roman has reasons to believe that the Americans do oppose the Internet gambling ban.

JOHN DIMSDALE: Opponents of the ban on Internet gambling say its none of the government’s business what Americans do with their own money in their own homes. Massachusetts Democrat Barney Frank is the sponsor of the Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act.

BARNEY FRANK: I spend a lot of time here as a member of Congress trying to protect people from other people who would treat them unfairly. I have no energy left to protect people from themselves. Adults have got to do that without me.

Frank says the Internet gambling ban is hypocritical because Americans are allowed to bet on horses or play state lotteries online. The World Trade Organization agrees it’s a double standard and is threatening trade sanctions.

But supporters of the ban, which passed the House last year 317-93, say keeping young people away from online gambling sites trumps free trade.

The story concludes by noting that only six members of Congress showed for the hearing.

Source: TradeSports

Post Scriptum: I have copied and pasted the HTML code given by TradeSports (so the chart can be updated in the future), but it does not look good in my browser. Maybe next time, I’ll upload a fixed chart.

Addendum: Paul of SmartCrowd has sent me a corrected code. It’s cute, now. Thanks!… Appreciated. Will make up to you. (I wonder whether TradeSports is aware of its faulty code.)

Addendum 2: Paul confirms my suspicion. Dynamic charts expire once the underlying has expired. It should not be. That’s bad Internet usability. The point of using “permanent links” is to have the content live forever. Many readers will read the archives of this blog (Midas Oracle) in the future. Why depriving them from historical information??

Addendum 3: Paul of SmartCrowd has also told me that NewsFutures charts expire a couple of months after the death of the underlying. Bad usability, again. Here’s why. Now that I know that updated charts will make my blog posts look uninformative for archives diggers, I won’t use this mechanism anymore. I will post normal charts.

TEN CEO John Delaney has been feeding the gullible media with the concept that, because TradeSports / InTrade is a prediction exchange (not a bookmaker, or a casino), he keeps sleeping like a log, at nights, regarding the recent prosecutions against internet gambling firms’ executives.

Addendum: Steve Roman notes that the USLAW.IGAMING.JAN07 contract has skyrocketed… maybe wrongly…

QUOTE

Dublin, July 14, 2006: New US Law passed and signed by the US President

The contract(s) will be expired at 100 if (including but not limited to):
The 109th US Congress passes a bill and the US President signs a new law that amends the federal criminal code to prohibit persons engaged in the business of betting or wagering from knowingly accepting credit, electronic fund transfers, checks, drafts, or similar instruments, or the proceeds of any other financial transaction in connection with unlawful internet gambling. The law must be signed on or before 11:59:59pm ET on the date specified in the contract.

The contract(s) will be expired at 0 if (including but not limited to):
There is no such bill passed by Congress or the bill is not signed into law by the US President on/before 11:59:59pm ET on the date specified in the contract.

Due to the nature of this contract please also see Contract Rule 1.9 (Unforeseen Circumstances).
The Exchange reserves the right to invoke Contract Rule 1.8 (Time Protection) if deemed appropriate.
Any changes to the result after the contract has been expired will not be taken into account. Exchange Rule 1.4
You are obligated to contact the exchange by email to help@tradesports.com if you have any questions regarding this contract before you enter an order.

UNQUOTE

Addendum: This is from a trader (scoresman923) on the TradeSports forum:

QUOTE

Tradesports,

Please discuss the passing of this new bill and let your bettors know all implications of the bill. We have invested a lot of time and money in your site and have been loyal customers. I fear for my funds invested and if you do not discuss this issue I will be forced to withdraw all funds within the next couple of months.

Thank you.

UNQUOTE

Addendum: Clarification October 5th 2006:
The above contract will expire at 100 if/when the President signs the current “Safe Port Act”, which includes the section Unlawful Internet Gambling, which was passed by Congress on September 29th, 2006. If he does not sign this bill or similar by December 31st, 2006, the contract will expire at Zero.