DON'T BET ON BAN ENDING INTERNET GAMBLING

MSNBC
Will ban end Internet gambling? Don’t bet on it
Bill may win political points, but $12 billion industry can work around it

By Mike Brunker
Reporter
MSNBC

It took Congress more than a decade to pass a ban on Internet gambling. Now comes the hard part.

After President Bush made online gambling illegal Friday by signing the port security bill containing the prohibition, federal officials will have 270 days to devise a way of identifying electronic gambling transactions and preventing Americans from taking part in them.

Many experts on gambling, e-commerce and the law say the odds are extremely long that the feds will be able to come up with a set of regulations that will accomplish what the lawmakers want to impose on what has grown to become a $12 billion-a-year industry.

“The worst-case scenario is they’ll put in place some measures that will put a crimp on the industry for a while,” said Sebastian Sinclair, a gaming analyst with Christiansen Capital Advisors who has been tracking the online gambling sector almost since its inception. “I don’t think anyone — well, maybe except for those in Washington — believes that the industry won’t recover.”

“The worst-case scenario is they’ll put in place some measures that will put a crimp on the industry for a while,” said Sebastian Sinclair, a gaming analyst with Christiansen Capital Advisors who has been tracking the online gambling sector almost since its inception. “I don’t think anyone — well, maybe except for those in Washington — believes that the industry won’t recover.”

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