Online Gambling Industry Can Learn Something From Porn

The porn industry walked off with a major victory this past week following a judge's ruling to strike down a law declared "unconstitutional".  Could the online gambling industry fight the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act?

Probably and effectively make the new law worthless while held up in the legal system.  Thus far, while no online gambling entity has specifically filed action to have the new law challenged, one powerful politician has.

The office of US Congressman Barney Frank, who is chairman of the House financial services committee, has confirmed last week that he is currently working on legislation to repeal the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act.

Frank is quoted as describing last autumn’s Act as one of the “stupidest laws” ever passed and adds: “I am working on legislation to cut back on this internet gambling thing… I think it’s preposterous”.

The UIGEA holds banking institutions responsible for - not only monitoring online gambling transactions - but also determining which online gambling activity is "good" verses "bad".  You see, when the legislation's co-author, Jon Kyl (R - Arizona), got the measure attached to an unrelated bill he also ensured the horse racing lobbyists were happy by exempting bets on horses from the new legislation. 

The online gambling sector and banking industry, which has already stated they will have a tough time initiating tools to combat such transactions, may look to this latest decision in the world of porn as a ray of hope.

KC Jones of InformationWeek.com reported Friday that The Child Online Protection Act was effectively killed by a federal judge on Thursday, and the prospects for further legislation of its type don't look promising.

"U.S. District Court Judge Lowell A. Reed Jr. on Thursday struck down the law, also known as COPA, calling it unconstitutional. His 84-page ruling on COPA indicated that it is simultaneously too broad and too narrow.

"Federal lawmakers introduced COPA in 1998 with the intent of protecting children from porn and other indecent material on the Internet. The law would have threatened commercial Web sites with fines up to $50,000 a day and six months in prison for each day they disseminated information deemed "harmful to children." It never took effect because a court barred enforcement pending the outcome of legal challenges.

"The American Civil Liberties Union and Focus on the Family agree on very little, but both said the ruling will make it difficult for lawmakers to adopt similar legislation to protect children from online pornography. Judge Reed acknowledged that as well."

The report goes on to explain how last year, the law drew widespread attention after the government requested records from search companies to support its defense of COPA in the case that concluded Thursday. Google refused, successfully argued for a narrower request, and gained praise from users as well as privacy advocates.

ACLU representatives called the judge's decision a "victory in defense of online free speech."

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Christopher Costigan, Gambling911.com

Originally published March 24, 2007 10:26 pm ET