Feds Say Vague Law Makes Ban On Internet Gambling Tough To Enforce - Kentucky Post

By ERICA WERNER

Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Congress' ban on Internet gambling is so vague that implementing it is a struggle, say federal officials charged with the task.

"I think it is very difficult without having more of a bright line about what is intended to be unlawful Internet gambling," Louise Roseman, head of the Federal Reserve's bank operations division, told a House hearing Wednesday.

"The challenge we have is interpreting something, particularly federal laws, that Congress themselves isn't sure what they mean," she said.

Congress passed the ban with little notice in 2006 when Senate Republicans, pushed by then-Majority Leader Bill Frist, attached it to an unrelated port security bill in a rush of year-end legislation.

Internet gambling already was considered mostly illegal in the U.S., but the games are played by many U.S. residents on sites hosted overseas in a business worth more than $15.5 billion a year.

U.S. bettors have been estimated to provide at least half that revenue.
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