SUMMARY OF GOODLATTE INTERNET GAMBLING PROHIBITION LEGISLATION

Updates the Wire Act to Cover All Forms of Gambling and New Technologies - Under current federal law, it is unclear that using the Internet to operate a gambling business is illegal. The closest useful statute is the Wire Act which prohibits gambling over telephone wires. However, because the Internet does not always travel over telephone wires, the Wire Act, which was written well before the invention of the World Wide Web, has become outdated -- it is not clear that it applies to the Internet at all. Furthermore, technology has allowed for new types of electronic gambling, including interactive games on the Internet such as poker and blackjack, which may not clearly be included within the types of gambling currently made illegal by the Wire Act. The bill amends the Wire Act to make it clear that its prohibitions include Internet gambling by bringing the Act up to speed with the development of new technology and expanding the existing prohibition to include all bets or wagers, not merely bets or wagers on sporting events or contests.

Increases Penalty - The maximum prison term for a violation of this Act is increased from 2 years to 5 years.

Defines Gambling - The bill defines a bet or wager to include wagering on sporting events, lotteries and games of chance. A bet or wager does not include securities and commodities transactions, indemnity and insurance contracts, and fantasy sports leagues.

Prohibits Credit Card Use for Illegal Gambling - The bill prohibits a gambling business from accepting certain forms of non-cash payment, including credit cards and electronic transfers, for the transmission of bets and wagers in violation of this Act. This provision provides an enforcement mechanism to address the situation where the gambling business is located offshore but the gambling business used bank accounts in the United States.

Provides Additional Law Enforcement Tools to Combat Illegal Gambling - The bill provides an additional tool to fight illegal gambling by allowing Federal, State, local and tribal law enforcement to seek injunctions against any party to prevent and restrain violations of the Act. For example, law enforcement can use such injunctions to get assistance from ISPs to remove or disable access to hypertext links to online gambling sites that violate the Act.

Respects States Rights - The regulation of intrastate gambling is within the jurisdiction of the states, so the bill leaves the regulation of wholly intrastate betting or wagering to the states with tight controls to be sure that it does not extend beyond their borders or to minors. For this provision to be applicable, at the time of transmission, the bettor, the gambling business, and any facility processing the bets or wagers must be physically located in the same state and the state must explicitly permit such bets or wagers and explicitly authorize and license the gambling business.

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