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Legislation to Review Internet Gambling by: Staff Wednesday, April 02, 2003 Not all lawmakers are out to axe the Internet gambling industry. A small bipartisan group of lawmakers wants to let states regulate and tax Internet gambling, even as others in Congress renew efforts to ban the rapidly increasing form of wagering. Rep. John Conyers introduced legislation this past month that would pave the way to legalizing Internet gambling in states interested in states interested in licensing, overseeing and collecting taxes from the growing industry. The Conyers bill, H.R. 1223, was introduced with co-sponsors from both political parties. The Interactive Gaming Council, a longtime advocate of regulation and licensing of online gaming, believes the Leach / Kyl bills would exacerbate the problems they seek to address. According to Rick Smith, executive director of the IGC, “The Conyers bill offers the best opportunity to protect U.S. citizens and deal with the issues that accompany this type of gambling.” “Just as outlawing alcohol did not work in the 1920s, current attempts to prohibit online gaming will not work, either,” said Conyers, the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, in a release about his bill. Conyers added that, 'Attempts to prohibit Internet gambling in the name of fighting crime and protecting children and problem gamblers will have the opposite effect. Prohibition will simply drive the gaming industry underground, thereby attracting the least desirable operators who will be out of the reach of law enforcement. A far better approach is to allow the States to strictly license and regulate the Internet gambling industry, to foster honest merchants who are subject to U.S. consumer protection and criminal laws.” MGM Mirage Inc., the largest operator of Las Vegas Strip hotels, last year became the first major U.S. gambling company to open an online casino, based in and regulated by the Isle of Man off the British coast. MGM Mirage spokesman Alan Feldman said the Conyers proposal is a welcome indication that some lawmakers have open minds about how technology and the public appetite for gambling have evolved.
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