Wednesday, Oct. 15, 1997 | 10:57 a.m.
A bill that would outlaw gambling on the Internet, co-sponsored by Sen. Richard Bryan, D-Nev., has been labeled "misguided" and "ill conceived at best" by online gaming proponents.
Speaking Tuesday at the World Gaming Congress & Expo '97 at the Convention Center, Sue Schneider, publisher of Rolling Good Times OnLine, an electronic consumer-based gambling magazine, said the timing of such a bill is "premature."
The Senate Judiciary Committee is considering the Internet Gambling Prohibition Act of 1997, co-sponsored by Bryan and Sen. Jon Kyle, R-Ariz., that would establish fines and jail terms for even casual gamblers.
Schneider questioned why Sens. Kyle and Bryan have chosen not to wait until the National Gambling Impact Study Commission makes its recommendations on the economic and social impacts of gaming in the United States.
"Internet gambling is not and cannot be fully regulated. This is not an issue that needs to be studied," responded Karen Kirchgasser, spokeswoman for Bryan.
A year ago, fewer than a half dozen Internet casinos were in operation, but Schneider explained that today 55 sites accept wagering, "and we expect that number to increase by 15 or 20 by the end of the year."
Today, online action includes pari-mutuel wagering, lotteries, sports betting and casino gaming.
Still, the stakes for online gambling are low, compared with the estimated $26.4 billion that Americans will wager in legal casinos and the estimated $500 billion that will be bet legally on horse racing, bingo and state lotteries.
But gaming analysts, who envision the prospect of computer users betting in their homes, offices and hotel rooms, say online gaming soon could be a multibillion dollar industry.
But not in the United States, if the Internet Gambling Prohibition Action becomes law.
"We're trying to nip this in the bud before it gets totally out of control," Kirchgasser said. "Internet wagering brings gambling right into the home and opens it up to children."
But Schneider charged that the bill is "misguided and very difficult to enforce" as well as unfair.
"This bill would criminalize the sports bettor. If you bet $20 on a sports team over the Internet, you could be subject to a $2,500 fine and a six-month jail term."
Another critic of the bill is Kendell Lang of CasinoWorld Holdings, a Del Mar, Calif., interactive gaming supplier.
"The bill doesn't do anything to clarify the situation. It only muddies the water," Lang said. "This bill is ill-conceived at best, and is proposed by legislators who have their heads in the sand."
Lang explained that Internet gambling will occur through most of the world whether or not the Internet Gambling Prohibition Act passes.
"This bill is completely unenforceable," Lang said. "The technology doesn't exist to enforce it, and there isn't enough manpower in all the state gaming regulatory agencies to do so."
Lang also charged that passage of the bill would "completely wall off the rest of the world from the United States in terms of the Internet" simply because of the logistical problems of banning a form of activity in only one jurisdiction of the global Internet.
"Internet gaming will bring the casinos into the 21st Century," said Lang, who described his company as "the IGT of online interactive gaming."
Lang also said his company has a better way to police the Internet to ensure that children don't wager on the World Wide Web.
Lang's company distributes a laser optic imaging device that acts much like a supermarket bar code detector. The device, which attaches to the keyboard of personal computers, scans the user's fingerprint to validate his identity.
"Similar devices are used in Canada to detect Welfare fraud," said Lang, who noted the device cost about $900, and is easily affordable to major Internet casinos.
"Over time, the more of these devices that are produced, the lower the cost," Lang said.
