EDITORIAL: 'Bizarre' legislation - Opinion

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Apr. 03, 2008
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

EDITORIAL: 'Bizarre' legislation

It would be a stiff competition indeed to determine the worst piece of legislation to emerge from Congress over the past decade, but the Internet gambling ban would likely make the short list of finalists.

Passed in 2006 as a rider to an unrelated port security bill, the ban was designed to help congressional moralists win votes back home. In fact, though, it's a feel-good mish-mash of special interest legislation -- and a perfect example of the damage Congress can do when members have no real-world clue about the ramifications of their actions.

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While purporting to be an anti-gambling bill, the legislation exempted lotteries and horse racing as a sop to those interests. And instead of actually banning Internet gambling, it put the burden on banks and other financial institutions to enforce the measure by policing credit card and other transactions.

It "makes financial institutions the police, prosecutors, and judges in place of real law enforcement officers," Wayne Abernathy of the American Bankers Association told a House Financial Services subcommittee on Wednesday.

To this day, nobody knows what specific online activities are prohibited because it isn't spelled out in the law.

Instead, the ban has led to a more complicated regulatory structure involving banks and their customers at a cost of millions; triggered international trade disputes; made criminals out of otherwise law-abiding adults; and led to the idiotic spectacle of the feds arresting the foreign owner of a legal online betting service when he landed at a U.S. airport.

To top it off, even some regulators now criticize the legislation as too complicated and virtually unenforceable.

"I think it is very difficult without having more of a bright line about what is intended to be unlawful Internet gambling," Louise Roseman, head of the Federal Reserve's bank operations division, told the House hearing. "The challenge we have is interpreting something, particularly federal laws, that Congress themselves isn't sure what they mean."

That prompted Rep. Barney Frank, who chairs the House Financial Services Committee, to state the obvious. "A rather bizarre piece of legislation," he said.

In the movie "Office Space," frustrated corporate drones fantasize about taking a baseball bat to the office computer equipment that never seems to operate properly. That's precisely what Congress should do to the Internet gambling ban.

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Please enter your name Name: Please enter your email Email: Please enter a comment COMMENTS : (word count limit is 300) You have reached the maximum number of words allowed Current Word Count: Note: Comments made by reporters and editors of the Las Vegas Review-Journal are presented with a yellow background. dwc wrote on April 03, 2008 02:47 PM: Yes, yes! This legislation's aroma isn't quiiiite roses, it's...awww jeez, what is it...hmmm...oh yeah, like mexican food bah-whoooshies! Rejoice, citizens!!! Your liberties ARE secure!! TRUST ME! Fafner wrote on April 03, 2008 11:41 AM: John F is right: The prime movers of the bill were then-Sen. Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) and then-Rep. Jim Leach (R-Iowa). Leach was voted out of office soon thereafter. John F wrote on April 03, 2008 09:16 AM: Bobby, Know your facts before you open your mouth. Barney Frank is with us on this. He's AGAINST the internet gaming ban. Helen Weils wrote on April 03, 2008 08:53 AM: Patriot Act? How about the Terrorism bill that was voted in 2 weeks after the bombing in Oklahoma under the Clinton regime? The bills were created before the event happened both times. Government says, Create a problem, create a solution. Except the solution is always designed before the event. HMMMM! Lee wrote on April 03, 2008 07:08 AM: The government proves itself ignorant and immoral once again. Obey, citizen. timinator wrote on April 03, 2008 07:05 AM: My vote for Congress' most bizarre legislation: The Patriot Act. Magically pulled out of thin air, read by no one before the vote, it was feel-good tyrannical legislation. BTW: On Office Space, it was a fax machine they destroyed with a baseball bat. Herb wrote on April 03, 2008 05:47 AM: Congress should concern themselves with enforcement of the bill this "bizarre" legislations was attached to, the security of our ports. I think the fact that an old retired guy like me wants to play a little online poker is miniscule compared to containers of nuclear material or anthrax coming into our country undetected, don't you? Bobby wrote on April 03, 2008 05:20 AM: Barney Frank needs to keep getting nasked and playing with little boys, leavethe legislation to someone who has a brain, or half of one. This smells of a Nancy Peeloosly deal