PRO-CON: Should Congress rescind the ban on Internet gambling? No - Kansas City Star

Last year, the percentage of American college students who gamble online fell to 1.5 percent from 5.8 percent the year before. The reason? A 2006 federal law restricting Internet gambling. Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts is expected to hold congressional hearings to explore overturning the 2006 Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act and replace it with legalized online betting, which could generate taxes and fees to the tune of billions of dollars.

Not included in the cost of this revenue stream, of course, would be the social price paid from the suffering and financial ruin that online gaming inflicts on a minority of players.

The European Union, which favors Internet gambling, points out that the current American law doesn’t ban Internet gambling on horse racing in the United States. Betting establishments in EU countries would love to return legally to the U.S. market and see the inconsistency in the U.S. law as a handy wedge to force the U.S. to back down. But Congress should go the other way and ban Internet gambling on horse racing as well.

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