House to vote on Internet gambling

Benjamin Grove

Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2002 | 10:50 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- The House today was poised to vote on a plan aimed at banning Internet gambling by outlawing the use of credit cards, checks, and wire transfers to place online wagers.

The bill must pass with a two-thirds majority under House rules for the vote.

It's unlikely the bill would become law this year. Congress is trying to wrap up legislative business for the year before the elections.

The Senate has not considered an exact match of the House bill, introduced by Rep. Jim Leach, R-Iowa.

A bill introduced by Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., last week, has not had a committee hearing. Johnson's bill is different from the Leach legislation in that it seeks a broader outright ban on Internet gambling, instead of going after payment methods.

Both Johnson and Leach are running in close re-election races, so the legislation's future is uncertain if it does not pass this year.

Internet gambling is technically illegal under a 1961 federal law that bans bets made over telephone wires. But off-shore Internet gambling sites thrive, and online bettors are rarely prosecuted.

Reps. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., and Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., plan to vote for the bill because they generally oppose widespread, unregulated Internet gambling. If Nevada eventually approved a law that allowed Internet gambling within the the state, the Leach legislation would not apply to Nevada, aides to the Nevada lawmakers said.