This dynamic and emerging technology will continue to present challenges to Congress as it increases in usage and uses. Thus, the Association hopes that the Subcommittee will further examine the issues of asserting jurisdiction over this new technology and its constituent parts to ensure that, in the future, similar troubling issues are handled consistently and no more broadly than necessary. As we understand it, both H.R. 2380 and S. 474 are attempts to solve a problem raised by the states attorneys general, namely that certain gambling activity that would be illegal under state law, or under federal law by virtue of 18 USC 1084, is finding a safe haven on the Internet. We have no opposition to that goal. The Major League Baseball Players Association does not condone gambling.
Sports gambling is a threat to the very sport that employs our members.
But neither do we consider fantasy baseball gambling. As currently drafted, H.R. 2380, although perhaps not intended to, would either make participation in sports fantasy leagues on the World Wide Web by commercial entities illegal under federal law or at least have a great chilling effect on them. We start from the premise that Congress should identify the public policy it is seeking to serve in enacting this legislation. The answer to that question determines in large measure how the legislation is crafted. Although it appears that both the House and Senate bills started out as attempts to address the jurisdictional issue, the Senate bill has been transformed into a new substantive federal law that preempts all state law to the contrary.