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11 GLR 1 (2007)

handle is hein.journals/gmglwr11 and id is 1 raw text is: GAMING LAW REVIEW Volume 11, Number 1, 2007 Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. DOI: 10.1089/glr.2006.11101 Gambling and the Law® Congress Makes Sausages I. NELSON ROSE Laws are like sausages. It's better not to see them being made. -Otto von Bismarck L ATE AT NIGHT on Sept. 29, 2006, with the members of Congress aching to go home to campaign for reelection, Sen. Bill Frist (R- Tenn.), then the majority leader of the U.S. Sen- ate, rammed through the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006. Frist's term in the Senate was almost up. He planned to spend the next two years running for the Republican nomination for President. Frist spoke of his opposition to Internet gam- ing in a speech in Iowa, home of the first pres- idential caucuses in 2008. He followed this with a speech on the Senate floor, declaring that out- lawing it was a legislative priority. Because no one else in the Senate, except Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), cares either way about Inter- net gambling, Frist had a problem. He couldn't get a prohibition bill to the floor for a vote. So, Frist added his Internet gambling Act to a completely unrelated bill dealing with port security. In a cynical move, he risked the safety of the United States in its war against the Is- lamist terrorists to show his right-wing reli- gious base that he opposes gambling. The House of Representatives had already passed the port bill. Frist handpicked a Senate- I. Nelson Rose is a professor at Whittier Law School in Costa Mesa, Calif. His latest books are Gaming Law: Cases and Materials and Internet Gaming Law. Professor Rose may be reached at his Web site at <http://www.Gambling AndTheLaw .com>. © Copyright 2006, all rights reserved worldwide. GAM- BLING AND THE LAW® is a registered trademark of Professor I. Nelson Rose, Whittier Law School, Costa Mesa, Calif. House Conference Committee to add his pet In- ternet gaming bill as an amendment. According to Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg (D- N.J.), Frist refused to let any Democrat on the Senate-House Conference Committee see the fi- nal language of the bill. Conference reports cannot be amended, so members of Congress could only vote against this ban on Internet gaming by voting against the Safe Port Act. As you can imagine, Frist's Unlawful Inter- net Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (which I call Prohibition 2.0), rushed through with- out having been read, is somewhat of a mess. It starts with the findings. Prohibition 2.0 uses a recommendation from the discredited National Gambling Impact Study Commission, whose chair was right-wing incompetent Kay Coles James. Prohibition 2.0 tries to expand the reach of federal law to go after Internet poker. Bet or wager includes risking something of value on the outcome of a contest, sports event or a game subject to chance. But this new statute only applies to Internet gambling that is unlawful, defined as violat- ing some other federal or state law. Prohibition 2.0's major weakness is that it does not expand the reach of the Wire Act, the main federal statute the Department of Justice uses against Internet gambling. Although DOJ has taken the position that the Wire Act covers all forms of gambling, courts have ruled that it is limited to bets on sports events and races. State anti-gambling statutes 1

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