Opponents of a federal law curtailing online gambling have their fingers crossed that a recent international trade ruling will prompt lawmakers to undo the statute.

The World Trade Organization decided last week that the United States has violated international trade law by prosecuting online gambling cases while still allowing online bets for horse-racing and, in some states, lotteries. The WTO ruling sided with a complaint filed by the tiny island nations of Antigua and Barbuda, which depends economically on e-gambling.
    
Lawmakers in the 109th Congress authorized legislation to effectively bar the financial industry from processing payments to online gambling sites. The measure cleared the Senate after it was attached to an unrelated port security bill by former Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn.
    
The Poker Players Alliance, which lobbied hard last session against the measure, is now trying to convince Congress to reverse it. Former Sen. Alfonse D’Amato, R-N.Y., the group’s new chairman, said the WTO ruling is only the beginning of a global blowback against the U.S. on the e-gambling front.
    
According to D’Amato, it would be much wiser for the United States to allow online wagering and regulate online bets than criminalize it. He said the PPA is going to continue to push for a revocation of the law and to educate lawmakers on why it was a bad idea.
    
“They’ve used a cannon to kill a gnat,” D’Amato said.
    
He said the United States should be taking its cues from England, which has explicitly allowed online bookmakers to operate there.
    
Reps. Shelley Berkeley, D-Nev., and Jon Porter, R-Nev., are expected to introduce legislation that would commission a study on how online gambling could best be regulated. They offered a similar bill last session before anti-gambling legislation cleared the House.
    
House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., said last month that the anti-gambling measure cleared by 109th Congress was one of the “stupidest” laws ever passed. He told the Financial Times that he is considering ways to repeal the law.
    
Frank spokesman Steve Adamske on Monday said any legislation coming out of the office is still in the planning stages. He said the WTO ruling would not affect Frank’s opinion on whether outlawing online gambling is impractical. 

“The question is whether it changed anyone else’s opinion,” he said

Author Contact Info: Michael Martinez, National Journal’s Tech Daily