Ewan's Corner

<The facts>:
The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 has been passed by the US House of Representatives, tacked onto the end of the Safe Port Act (see page 213 onwards) by senator majority leader Bill Frist and senator Jon Kyl.
The new law doesn’t (try to) make Internet gambling illegal – it is mainly aimed at payment processing activities, making it illegal for banks to be involved in “unlawful” online gambling transactions – where “unlawful” is undefined by this act.
It also appears to require that “interactive computer services” (page 239 of the act) remove or disable access to online gaming sites (presumably referring to ISPs or hosting companies).
</the facts>
IMHO: This is ridiculous. As people point out, the law has huge loopholes – apart from the fact that two bills are totally unrelated, the continuing exemption on horse racing etc shows how money and political oomph still gets you whatever you want, and this obviously isn’t a religious issue because bricks-and-mortar gambling (and horse racing) is still perfectly legal. It also doesn’t clarify whether the 1961 Wire Act applies to online casinos / poker, and doesn’t make the actual process of betting / gambling illegal for an individual – leaving players free to use alternate payment methods (of which there are plenty).
This bill is part of the 10 part so-called “American Values Agenda” along with other madness such as prohibiting same-sex marriage and even tighter restrictions on stem-cell research.

“Through this agenda, we will work to protect the faith of our people, the sanctity of life and freedoms outlined by our founding fathers,” House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Illinois) said in a statement released by his office.

Go America, land of the free :-)
Blocking access to gaming sites is going to be very difficult if not impossible to implement and enforce, and the same goes for the banks – they are generally opposed to the legislation saying it is costly and technically difficult to implement (for an example of a Banker’s perspective, see “Legislative Hearing on H.R. 4777, the Internet Gambling Prohibition Act” by Mr. Samuel A. Vallandingham, Vice President, The First State Bank, Barboursville, WV):

This legislation, if passed, would not only necessitate a massive overhaul of our nation’s check clearing and ACH systems, but also create enormous regulatory burden requiring the deputization of financial institutions to identify and block illegal transactions. For these reasons, we oppose the use of the check and ACH payments system to monitor Internet gambling transactions.

This will likely make it more difficult for US players to gamble online (including playing poker etc) but there is no way it will stop online gambling in the US (and don’t forget that online gaming is perfectly legal in other parts of the world).
Related:
Perspective: Prohibition won’t work for Net gambling either (news.com, well worth the read)
News links:
House votes yes on Net-gambling crackdown (news.com)
GOP Aims to Crack Down on Web Gambling (washington post)
Online Gambling Bill Passed in House (slashdot, worth it for the comments if nothing else :-)
UPDATE 3-Online gaming in crisis over U.S. ban (reuters)

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Update 2006/10/04
The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 Analyzed (by I. Nelson Rose)

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Update 2006/10/06
Finally a nice clear summary of the situation, cutting through the sensationalism and media hype : Legal Landscape of Online Gaming Has Not Changed (cardplayer).

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Update 2006/10/29
From the NYT : Short Odds for Ignorance.