Internet Gambling Ban Stalls; Kyl Vows to Proceed

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A procedural move has stalled a legislator's efforts to restrict Internet gambling by cutting off its funding sources, but his campaign isn't over, according to reports.

Republican Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl said his efforts would continue, according to wire reports. "We will proceed with this--it will become law at some point at some time," Reuters reported Kyl as saying from the Senate floor Sept. 15. "There should be no reason why we can't move forward on this."

Kyl attempted to attach language that restricts Internet gambling to an annual spending bill but a Democrat objected to attaching an unrelated matter to the spending measure under consideration.

Kyl's proposal would require banks and credit card companies to block payments to online Internet gambling sites. The plan concerns the pari-mutuel industry, which is deriving an increasing amount of handle and revenue from online and telephone account wagering. Pari-mutuel account betting is permitted under the Interstate Horseracing Act.

The U.S. Justice Department has said laws that prohibit interstate gambling apply to the Internet. But Americans have turned to offshore gambling Internet sites as an alternative.

The Senate and U.S. House of Representatives have passed similar legislation in the past but have been unable to reach agreement on the same bill.

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