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Friday November 7th, 2008 / 0h56

By Corey Boles Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- The Treasury Department has finalized regulations that would effectively ban online gambling in the U.S. and is trying to have them implemented in the waning days of the Bush administration. The controversial rules would make it illegal for banks to process credit card transactions from most Internet gambling sites. Their implementation has been opposed by groups advocating individuals' right to gamble, the banking industry, Democratic lawmakers in Congress and even officials at the Federal Reserve. The rules stem from a last-minute addition to a law passed in the final hours of the Republican controlled Congress in 2006. The provisions related to online gambling were included in an unrelated port security bill. The Treausury Department forwarded the final regulations to the Office of Management and Budget on Oct. 21, a necessary step towards their implementation. It's standard practice for outgoing administrations to finalize controversial regulations before leaving office, a practice known as a midnight drop. The law as drafted by Congress includes some exemptionsfor horse race betting, interstate online lotteries and betting on fantasy sports. But draft rules published by the Treasury in October 2007 don't define what would be considered an illegal transaction, and there has been much confusion as to what types of online gambling would be rendered illegal. Banks have warned they may block all online gambling transactions rather than try to determine which ones are illegal. An official from the Federal Reserve testified before Congress in April that the draft regulations created considerable uncertainty. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, attempted to drum up support from fellow lawmakers for legislation that would amend the law to allow online gambling transactions to continue. He was unsuccessful but pledged to return to the issue next year. The Poker Players Alliance, a group formed to combat the law, has fought against its implementation. It argues that Internet poker should be exempted from the law. "It's really remarkable that this administration would try to push this out given the burden it would place on financial institutions at this time of financial crisis," said John Pappas, the executive director of the group. Pappas is meeting Friday with officials from the OMB, whose job it is to formally implement the regulations, in a last ditch effort to prevent them from being put on the books. He wants officials to wait until President-elect Barack Obama's administration takes office in January to allow for a thorough review of the potential impact of the rules. A Treasury spokeswoman did not return phone calls seeking comment for this report. -By Corey Boles, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-6601; corey.boles@dowjones.com Click here to go to Dow Jones NewsPlus, a web front page of today's most important business and market news, analysis and commentary: http://www.djnewsplus.com/al?rnd=yaK%2B9URUjz2GfabgsG5QBg%3D%3D. You can use this link on the day this article is published and the following day.
Friday November 7th, 2008 / 0h56		Source : Dowjones Business News

Well the Democrats are in charge now.  Let's see if they change anything.

 

You care to make a wager?

 

 

Joanne, thanks as you always pull up these articles that many of us don't catch. 

Same shit, different day.

 

Nothing will change till Uncle Sam becomes your partner

God gives individuals a choice. In a "free" society, some people will live their lives and go to heaven, and some people will live their lives and go to hell. God let's individuals choose how to live their own individual lives, and Republicans do not let individuals choose how to live their own individual lives. That is the "real" crime here, not "responsible" internet gambling.  

Just one last kick in the nuts by the current fascist republican party.  With all of the serious problems that this nation is facing, our government is hell bent on banning poker and sportsbetting. You have to love it. Talk about fiddling while Rome is burning. The republicans have no answer to our loss of decent paying jobs, the housing crisis, our growing energy crisis, a foreign war costing billions, not to mention our loss of international credibility. Out of political correctness they just continue to pass over zealous laws which only harm everyday Americans.The Obama administration cannot come into power soon enough as far as I am concerned. I am optimistic that these draconian laws will finally be eased and the Bill of Rights will return to the American people.

and if this passes, does it really matter? i mean i know books that don't really process your deposits directly anymore...