In just a matter of minutes, the United States Senate Banking Committee passed S.627, after the Chairman of the Committee introduced the bill and asked the Committee to approve the amendments he had already made to it.

The bill attacks the very system that makes Internet gambling possible — the world of credit cards. Christopher Armentano, who helps the state of Connecticut treat addicted gamblers, said credit is very dangerous to a gambler.

"Any form of gambling that you can wager and use your credit cards or bet on credit, seems to be more dangerous," Armentano said. "They get into debt over their heads."

Coupled with easy credit and easy access to the Internet, gambling online has turned beginning gamblers into addicts, and has forced addicts into bankruptcies and suicides.

In June, the House overwhelmingly passed H.R. 2143, legislation that would prohibit gambling businesses from accepting credit card payments and other bank instruments from Internet gamblers. Conversely, critical to the House bill's passage was the removal of criminal provisions that are at the center of Kyl's Senate bill.

However, at the last Panel hearing on S. 627, which was in March, 2003, Stewart A. Baker, general counsel for the U.S. Internet Service Providers Association, urged the Committee to avoid 'unintended consequences' that may hurt the economic growth of the Internet, including requiring ISPs to block customer access to gambling sites not residing on their networks and not under their control. 'Service providers are unable to block user access to websites on other service providers' networks with any reliability,' Baker said. 'Blocking efforts can be easily circumvented and will seriously disrupt legitimate e-commerce and speech.' The Bill is to be reported to the full Senate. President Bush will almost certainly add his signature, if it gets through the Senate and the House-Senate conference committee.

Source: www.onlinecasinoreports.com

In its latest misstep, the U.S. Justice Department has asked a Louisiana federal court to dismiss a lawsuit brought by casinocity.com that challenges the government's crackdown the past year on advertising by Internet casinos.

There is an ancient Chinese proverb about gambling and goes like this: "If you must play, decide upon three things at the start: The rules of the game, the stakes and the quitting time.”

A U.S. trade official, speaking on condition that she not be identified, confirmed that a WTO panel had issued a final report that was "largely unchanged" from its preliminary ruling against the U.S. ban one month ago.

Since they couldn't go after the offshore operations directly, prosecutors started threatening to go after companies that aid and abet those offshore bookies. That could mean anybody who accepts advertising from offshore betting parlors, including the search engines.

Last June, Deputy Assistant Attorney General John G. Malcolm sent a letter to media trade groups warning that their members could be breaking the law by accepting ads for gambling sites. Meanwhile, Raymond W. Gruender, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri, has convened a grand jury in St. Louis that is issuing subpoenas to companies that do business with the online gambling industry.

Michelle Carinci, in an interview with The Canadian Press, said the website is already being used to create a database of potential on-line gamblers.

This was as a result of regulatory changes made by the Canadian Pari-Mutuel Agency last year allowing Internet wagers on horse racing.