Bill Lifting US Online Gambling Ban Seen Raising $42B In Rev

Bill Lifting US Online Gambling Ban Seen Raising $42B In Rev
By Corey Boles

Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)–A measure decriminalizing many forms of Internet gambling would raise nearly $42 billion for the U.S. Treasury over the next decade, according to an analysis conducted by a non-partisan congressional scorekeeper.

The Joint Committee on Taxation said that after reviewing legislation that would lift an online gambling ban, it concluded the move would generate $41.8 billion over 10 years.

The legislation would allow Internet poker, but continue a ban on other forms of gambling, including betting on professional sports.

House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank (D., Mass.) has championed the idea, and has said he hopes his committee will formally consider the bill soon.

To date, around 60 House lawmakers have signed on to support it.

In the Senate, similar legislation has been introduced.

The effort to lift the ban imposed by the Republican-controlled Congress in late 2006 has become a popular cause for some Democratic lawmakers who believe the law imposed unjust restrictions on individual rights.

Others say that by keeping the ban in place, potential sources of revenue to fund needed government programs are being wasted.

“I’m always looking for money to deal with some of the problems I see out there,” said Rep. Jim McDermott (D., Wash.), a supporter of the measure. “This looked like a good place to find some revenue.”

He said the House Democratic leadership hadn’t indicated whether it would support the legislation, but he said the savings estimate would get the party leaders’ attention.

Sen. Ron Wyden (D., Ore.) attempted to bring forward legislation to legalize online gambling, proposing to use the revenues raised to help pay for the health-care overhaul legislation. He was unsuccessful, but the attempt shows lawmakers are increasingly aware of the potential revenues that could be generated by lifting the ban.

The JCT estimate is based on a fee that would be levied on all deposits U.S. residents make with online gambling companies.

The Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative, a group lobbying for the ban to be lifted, said that Americans gamble around $100 billion online annually.

“With the completed analysis and support for Internet gambling regulation growing daily, it’s only a matter of time before Congress acts and begins allocating the billions in new revenue sitting on the table to one program or another,” Michael Waxman, a spokesman for the group said.

In the article, one expert predicts that Atlantic City will continue to sink:

James Hughes, dean of the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University, said the casino industry is vital for the economy of southern New Jersey and for the tax revenue it generates.

“It’s possible Atlantic City is past its peak,” said Hughes, who predicted the situation may worsen next year. “It could never go back to its past glory. It’s a much tougher game now.”

But another analyst predicts a recovery in 2010:

The U.S. gaming industry will “remain under significant pressure in 2009, with a recovery unlikely until 2010,” Michael Paladino, a Fitch Ratings analyst in New York, said in a Dec. 16 report.

In other news, the Wall Street Journal reported that gambling in general is in a downward spiral that will never be the same. *Insert Debbie Downer sound here.* In fact, one survey specialist who clearly doesn’t follow poker trends at the University of Pennsylvania thinks that A) poker is a fad, and B) it has peaked.

Meanwhile, despite the fact that ESPN’s poker-tournament coverage has become ensconced in the culture, card-playing for money among college-age youth declined in 2007 for the first time, according to a survey by the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. “The fad has peaked,” survey director Dan Romer said.

Ummm, Mr. Romer, please note that that ESPN card-playing thingie to which you referred enjoyed its most righteous numbers ever just last month. Methinks we need another survey.