For a man who does not play “games of chance”, Barney Frank sure is an unlikely candidate in the effort to legalize online gambling and have people playing online slots. Mr. Frank does not visit casinos (online or offline) and claims to never have pulled the handle on a slot machine. So what drives the Newton-based Democratic Congressman so hard to champion a cause for which, apparently, he does not have much
“love”? Why has the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee gone to the length of proposing new legislation that would legalize an industry that is under constant pressure from the US Department of Justice?
Mr. Frank is finding support among online gambling entertainment communities who have backed his efforts not only with words but with cold-hard cash as well. A pitboss at the famed Bellagio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas has recently donated to his campaign, so has Chris Moneymaker, a famous professional poker player.
Industry figures show that, in the United States alone, the Internet online gambling industry accounts for $5.9 billion in annual revenues. Nearly 8 million Americans place wagers online, according to a study done in 2005 by Christiansen Capital Advisors, a Maine-based research firm. But the industry as a whole has been very controversial and come under constant criticism since it first appeared back in 1995.
A law dating back to the early 1960s prohibits the use of telephone lines to place bets. The US Department of Justice has since that date relied on that law to defend its stance against the burgeoning industry despite the fact that the overwhelming majority of all gambling sites operate in offshore jurisdictions and do not need to meet US laws and regulations.
The signature by George Bush, in 2006, of a new law that prohibits banks and credit card companies from participating in transactions involving online gaming firms made it even more difficult to place bets online. But businesses like lottery gambling, horse racing or fantasy sports were exempted from that same law. One has to wonder about those strange exemptions.
In 2007, within a four-month period of time, Barney Frank introduced new legislation reversing George Bush’s ban and worked on setting up a regulatory body that would allow gamblers to play games like black jack on the Internet.
According to Frank, this is an issue of personal freedom. Why does the government need to intervene in people’s personal decisions? If, in the privacy of their own home, people want to play roulette, why would they not be allowed to do so?
While it is still to early to tell what the outcome of Mr. Frank’s efforts will be, it does seem that such efforts are picking up steam and are slowly garnering support from both sides of the political spectrum. If legalized, online gambling would represent billions of dollars in new tax revenue for the US government.
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