The
Bush administration and the Department of Justice are keen to pass
a new law making internet gambling illegal to clear up uncertainty
surrounding the 1961 Wire Act currently used in prosecutions. The
bill has passed through the House of Representatives but has not
yet passed the Senate. Other attempts in recent years to pass an
anti-online gambling act have fallen at the Senate.
The leader of the Republican Senate majority, Bill Frist, wants
the bill to be passed this week because the Senate will enter
recess to campaign for elections this week and observers say that
the bill must be passed before recess if it is to have a chance of
success.
A defence bill which awaits consideration and is almost certain
to become law had found itself the subject of attempts to attach
other legislation to it. John Warner, the chairman of the Senate
Armed Services Committee, wrote to Frist raising "a strong
objection" to the attaching of unrelated legislation to that
bill.
"I have firmly opposed putting any bills in the conference
report," he wrote. He said that attempts had been made to attach
nine extra bills to the defence legislation.
Both the DoJ and the State of Louisiana have recently arrested
UK citizens in the US who worked for online gambling companies.
David Carruthers, ex-chief executive of Betonsports and Peter
Dicks, ex-chairman of Sportingbet, were both held, though Dicks was
allowed to return to the UK. He is expected to face a hearing in
New York today on attempts by Louisiana to hear his case in that
state.
The US Department of Justice recently admitted to OUT-LAW that
the 1961 Wire Act is 'dated'. DoJ spokeswoman Jacqueline Lesch
said: "They include language about a wire communication facility
which we believe includes the internet. They are dated but they
cover online gambling."
"We don't think it is confusing," said Lesch. "We think it
contravenes three statutes, the Wire Act, the Travel Act and the
Illegal Gambling Businesses Act. This has long been a concern of
the DoJ."
