User:Samuel.G.Mills/Sandbox

The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006

The “Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006” was a last minute addition, pushed through minutes before the election period recess. According to Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), no one on the Senate-House Conference Committee had seen the final language of the bill before it was passed. The Act is Title VIII of a completely unrelated bill, the SAFE Port Act, dealing with port security.

Section 5361, Findings and Purpose

The Act begins with Congress’s findings and purpose. Findings include a recommendation from the now discredited National Gambling Impact Study Commission. One of the controversial findings asserted in the opening of the bill is the assertion that Internet gambling is a growing problem for banks and credit card companies. The opening section of the act also states that that “new mechanisms for enforcing gambling laws on the Internet are necessary,” especially for cross-border betting. The Act contains a clause that ensures no change be made any other law or Indian compact. This clause makes known that the Act cannot be used as a defense to another crime, or to expand existing gambling.

Section 5362, Definitions

This section outlines definitions of gambling terms to be used throughout the act. The Act defines a bet or wager to include risking something of value on the outcome of a contest, sports event, “or a game subject to chance.” The “game subject to chance” restriction is designed to include Internet poker in the act.