UIGEA Debate Heats Up

The debate over legalized online gambling is taking a hurried turn as legislators are engaging in a heated debate as a deadline looms.

In two weeks, a federal law will take effect that essentially makes it illegal for banks to allow players to fund online poker and casino real money accounts. Currently, many online gambling companies operate offshore and accept U.S. players; the law, set to take effect on June 1, will make it completely illegal for American banks to allow any form of payment, such as a credit card or bank transfer, to play in these online games.

But Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) has been fighting for the passage of his bill, which would legalize online gambling. The legalization of these activities could bring in as much as an estimated $6 billion in revenue.

But as the full implementation of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act nears, the debate is heating up.

“Internet poker is the crack cocaine of gambling,” Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.) told ABC News this week. “Young people are particularly vulnerable – we don’t want to put a casino in every dorm room in the country. Compulsive gambling, by many accounts, is a very serious, growing problem.”

Bachus, the ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee, said he would work tirelessly to prevent passage of any bill that will legalize internet gambling.

Frank’s bill, which has seen a good deal of support on Capitol Hill, is called the Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act. The bill would help to establish a framework and method for legalizing online poker and other types of online gambling. Frank says that with some structures in place, online casinos could be harmless to U.S. citizens, but greatly beneficial in a financial way to the country as a whole.