Feds issue rule aimed at Internet gambling ban - Kalamazoo Gazette - MLive.com

[I Heart Gambling Online]

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration issued a final regulation Wednesday aimed at banning Internet gambling, drawing criticism from Democrats who said it would burden financial companies.

The rule from the Treasury Department and Federal Reserve requires those companies to establish procedures to prevent payments in connection with unlawful Internet gambling. They would be expected to comply by Dec. 1, 2009.

The chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., had asked the Treasury this week not to move ahead now, saying it would "burden the financial services industry at a time of economic crisis."

The rule does not define "unlawful Internet gambling." That has been an issue since Republicans pushed through the law that the new rule puts in place, by attaching it to a port security bill in 2006.

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