Rep. Shelley Berkley Introduces Online Gambling Legislation

On Thursday, Rep. Shelley Berkley introduced another bill which involves online gambling. But unlike the one introduced a week before by Rep. Barney Frank, this bill does not seek to immediately overturn the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. Instead, it calls for a one-year study of online wagering to be conducted by the National Academy of Sciences.

“One of the advantages of this legislation is that it doesn’t take a side,” said Berkley. “It doesn’t say Internet gambling is good or bad. It says ‘Let’s study the issue.’” Berkley, however, went on to admit that she did want to see a repeal of the Internet gambling ban which was approved last year by Congress and signed into law in October.

The hope is that a careful study will reveal that online gambling can be safely regulated without having to prevent in entirely. According to Joseph Kelly, a professor of business law at Buffalo State, “One you have a study that comes out and says ‘Internet gambling can be safely regulated to ensure the suitability and solvency of all licensees, and under aged people can be kept out, etc.,’ then I think there’s a good chance of legislation such as Barney Frank’s bill being taken very seriously.”

Besides introducing this bill, Berkley also happens to be a co-sponsor of Frank’s bill. The Massachusetts representative has called her bill “perfectly complementary” to his own.

And while Frank’s bill has 11 co-sponsors to this point, Berkley’s has 60 co-sponsors.

According to the bill, The National Research Council, a branch of the National Academy of Sciences, would conduct the study and do the following:

1. Examine technological methods employed by other countries which license and regulate Internet gambling.

2. Analyze recent rulings on Internet gambling by the World Trade Organization.

3. Assess the impact of the ban approved last year.

For more about the UIGEA and efforts to repeal it, read the following articles:

Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act Gets Criticism

New Gambling Legislation from Barney Frank

Rep. Shelley Berkley Introduces Online Gambling Legislation