US Hearing Focuses on Underage Gambling

Barney Frank's Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act (IGREA) was the focus of the discussions. The Democrat from Massachusetts' bill calls for legalizing and regulating online gambling in the US. The hearing came in response to, among other initiatives, Democratic House Rep. Shelley Berkley' (Nevada), call for a 1 year independent study concerning the effects of Internet gambling in the States.

Reason Magazine's Senior Editor, Radley Balko, testified that if online gambling continues to go unregulated, it will go underground, creating conditions for yet more delinquent gambling.

A total silence came over the hearing when Representative Julia Carson asked the witnesses if folks in Indiana could wager on the Kentucky Derby via the Internet, why could they not place other kinds of bets? The committee as well as witnesses remained frozen with bewilderment waiting for somebody to answer the question, which no one did. Moments later, Carson repeated her question and again no one answered. The Democrat from Indiana then announced her support for Frank's IGREA and admitted she was wrong to have voted for the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) last October.