Internet gambling prohibition

It seems like the US House Judiciary Committee is looking into a bill right now that would prohibit online gambling. This was announced on Friday and the bill should be reviewed today. If the bill passes and becomes an act, internet gaming at big online poker sites would be restricted by law.



How this would effect gaming sites on the whole is unknown, since many gaming sites are run on foreign soil, where the Act would have no jurisdiction. It would also mean that some group would need to monitor the habits of online gamers, which raises issues around privacy.



The concept of internet gambling prohibition seems too large in scale for the government to take seriously. Millions of Americans play online poker daily - and keeping them in line with the law would be expensive, time consuming, and eventually fruitless. However, they likely said the same thing about alcohol prohibition back in the 1930's, and yet that was enacted regardless of alcohol's popularity.



I'll be keeping a close eye on this bill as it runs the course over the next few weeks.