BI Letter Highlights Dangers in Overturning Internet Gambling Law
by Kim Trobee, editor
Government experts say ending the ban would lead to fraud and further addiction.
In a letter to Rep. Spencer Bachus, R-Ala., in mid-November, Shawn Henry, assistant director for the FBI's cyber division, said "there are several ways to cheat at online poker, none of which are legal."
Henry was answering a series of questions posed by Bachus, who authored the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA). The law prevents online gambling in the U.S. and is at risk of being overturned.
Bachus said Henry also claimed teams of online players could manipulate a game in order to cheat others on the site.
"In other words," Bachus said, "the site can rig where one person will benefit and another person will lose."
Bachus brought the letter to a hearing of the House Financial Services Committee last week. The session was held to discuss a bill put forward by Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass. Frank's bill would eliminate UIGEA, effectively legalizing online gambling under federal law.
"Barney Frank brought in three witnesses that were all financed by the gambling industry, Bachus said. "They were financed by the very people who were running these illegal sites."
Not one witness was called from the Treasury Department or the Federal Reserve to give testimony as to why they were holding off on release of the regulations of UIGEA or to address allegations from the FBI.
Henry admitted the FBI did not have the resources to monitor online gambling should it be legalized and that there would be no way to verify the ages of those playing, opening the door for expanded gambling among young people.
Kevin Harrigan, professor of multimedia and computer game design at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, said such a move would make it easy for kids to become addicted to gambling.
"As long as they have a credit card, they can gamble online," he said.
John Kindt, professor of economics at the University of Illinois, said Frank has now turned his attention to gambling speculation, much of which is controlled by overseas interests.
"With Internet gambling," he said, "people would just be dumping money into their computers and those funds are just flowing offshore to other countries."
by Kim Trobee, editor
Government experts say ending the ban would lead to fraud and further addiction.
In a letter to Rep. Spencer Bachus, R-Ala., in mid-November, Shawn Henry, assistant director for the FBI's cyber division, said "there are several ways to cheat at online poker, none of which are legal."
Henry was answering a series of questions posed by Bachus, who authored the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA). The law prevents online gambling in the U.S. and is at risk of being overturned.
Bachus said Henry also claimed teams of online players could manipulate a game in order to cheat others on the site.
"In other words," Bachus said, "the site can rig where one person will benefit and another person will lose."
Bachus brought the letter to a hearing of the House Financial Services Committee last week. The session was held to discuss a bill put forward by Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass. Frank's bill would eliminate UIGEA, effectively legalizing online gambling under federal law.
"Barney Frank brought in three witnesses that were all financed by the gambling industry, Bachus said. "They were financed by the very people who were running these illegal sites."
Not one witness was called from the Treasury Department or the Federal Reserve to give testimony as to why they were holding off on release of the regulations of UIGEA or to address allegations from the FBI.
Henry admitted the FBI did not have the resources to monitor online gambling should it be legalized and that there would be no way to verify the ages of those playing, opening the door for expanded gambling among young people.
Kevin Harrigan, professor of multimedia and computer game design at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, said such a move would make it easy for kids to become addicted to gambling.
"As long as they have a credit card, they can gamble online," he said.
John Kindt, professor of economics at the University of Illinois, said Frank has now turned his attention to gambling speculation, much of which is controlled by overseas interests.
"With Internet gambling," he said, "people would just be dumping money into their computers and those funds are just flowing offshore to other countries."