Yesterday was one of the most important days for the online casino industry, when Republican Bob Goodlatte's bill HR 4777 came up for further discussion and debate. Goodlatte's bill addresses the issue of online gambling and seeks to enforce a ban upon the online casino industry. The bill targets the financial channels of the online casino gambling industry and by that hopes to fight the phenomena.
The committee discussed the Goodlatte anti online casino bill and will decide how it wants to report the bill to the full House of Representatives. The committee's decision might have a direct impact on the online casino industry's legal future. The committee can pass the bill as is, or make any change they see fit. It can also pass the bill with agreed amendments. The House of Representatives approach towards the anti online casino bill will be greatly influenced by yesterday's committee's decisions.
Analysts say that the bill will face several major difficulties before being adopted. The bill addresses online casino gambling and the committee will have a hard time deciding what will be the result of online gambling legislation in relation to other forms of gambling. Furthermore, the bill is contradicting a previous World Trade Organization agreement that the U.S. has signed saying there will be no discrimination between offshore and domestic online casino operations. It is left to be seen what will be the committee's ruling, and obviously the entire gambling community is waiting anxiously. |
