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Online Gambling Soon to Be Legal? Again?

by Tim Stevens on April 29, 2009 at 10:37 AM

Where does the government turn when it needs more money? Usually it's straight into peoples' vices, and, with an already drastically hiked cigarette tax, gambling might be next. Gamblers could wind up paying $52 billion in additional tax revenue over the next decade, according to a recent study. The U.S. government recently put a ban in place to prevent online gambling within the country, but now Democratic Representative Barney Frank, of Massachusetts, is looking to remove that ban and once again legalize online games dealing with real money, FOX News reports.

It was three years ago that a Republican-controlled Congress pushed through measures to make online gambling within the States illegal, putting many purveyors of Internet gaming out of business. Some even faced criminal charges for not acting quickly enough to block American players. After all that fuss and expense, the new Democratic majority might be looking to reverse that change. But, then, the proposal is still in its early days. Even if the bill were to be approved, nobody knows what the Obama administration's response would be.

But we wouldn't be surprised if, somewhere in Vegas, someone has some odds on it. [From: FOX News]

Tags: barney frank, BarneyFrank, gambling, government, internet gambling, InternetGambling, law, online gambling, OnlineGambling, top

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