Israel Looking to Ban Online Gambling

February 27, 2008

It would seem that Israel is jumping on the online gambling ban as well. Knesset member Amnon Cohen of the Orthodox Shas party is attempting to get all online gambling banned.

Cohen presented a bill that would make online gambling illegal, and would ban sex and violence oriented web sites in Israel. The bill has already passed its first reading, and is expected to continue.

The bill would make it so that Internet Service Providers, or ISPs, would automatically block online casinos, online poker sites, online gambling sites of really any kind, online porn sites, and more. Customers would need to specifically ask to be allowed to visit those sites and would have to get permission to.

The Economic Affairs Committee will next have a look at it, and then it will go back to Knesset for a second and third reading. If it is passed, filtering software will need to be present for all new clients. The software must be offered free of charge, and service providers will have the right to impose the filtering system on all of their clients.

Those that do not want to have the filtering system will have to ask for it to be disabled, prove that they are older than the majority age and submit a personal request stating that they want it removed. Cohen says that the online gambling sites and porn, etc. need to be filtered out as there are too many children who have access to the internet and they need to be protected from what they might see on it.

Cohen has said that the new bill would protect 60% of children who come in contact with these kinds of sites. This seems to be what has given the online gambling ban its legs and the support that is being shown for it.




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