Legalizing Online Gambling Equals $42 Billion for US
November 13, 2009
If the United States were to legalize online gambling, recent reports say that it would bring in $42 billion for the country. This is a mind blowing number as with the economy the way that it is right now, one can only assume that everyone would be jumping on the band wagon to see this get accomplished. However, this is not the case.
While there are many who are for lifting the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, or UIGEA, there are those that are still steadfastly fighting against it. The ban was issued by the Republican controlled Congress in 2006, in a way that upset many Americans, not just those that believe in online gambling. The bill was tacked onto the Safe Port Act of 2006 so that anyone who voted against the bill would look at though they were voting against keeping our country safe. It was also done late at night so most people didn’t even know what was going on until it was too late.
Once it was passed, those groups for keeping online gambling legal sprung into action as they say that it is an infringement of their individual rights to be told what they can do online. Then there were the statements by various members of Congress comparing online gambling to drugs or one member even compared it to child pornography.
However, the tide seems to be turning with more and more representatives signing up to co-sponsor the bill and to overturn the online gambling ban. There are several different forms of bills out there that would overturn the ban, and it would seem that online gambling stands a fairly good chance of becoming legal again if not this year, then possibly by the end of next.
