Brian Gordon, an Australian territorial government gambling regulator, predicted at one World Gaming Congress seminar last week that Australian regulatory and consumer protection statutes would become the model as other rich nations, one by one, accept the inevitability of worldwide cyber gambling. Sen. Jon Kyl, a Republican from Arizona, for two years has been pushing for outright prohibition of such high-tech gambling, and his Senate Bill 692 is heading toward a floor vote this fall. House action is not expected until 2000. Republican Sen. Kit Bond of Missouri is a co-sponsor of the Kyl bill. In a recent interview, Bond spokesman Dan Hubbard acknowledged the technological challenge of enforcing a nationwide ban.
Bond has concerns about the spread of gambling that defies international boundaries.
You can't regulate it. Earlier failed versions of the Kyl bill would have made criminals of Internet casino executives and their customers. The problem is enforcement. One idea out there would make cyber-gambling police of the U.S. banking industry, whose plastic accounts are the currency of choice for many in the online betting industry. Barring the use of U.S. credit cards for Internet wagering would certainly put a damper on casual gamblers, but such legislation could be difficult to pass and would be a nightmare for the banking industry to implement.