Gambling interests hold strong hand

Editorial

Gambling opponents in Florida were already facing a tough fight this legislative session against the well-financed push for casino resorts in South Florida.

Then, from an unexpected direction, things got worse. In a quiet ruling released the Friday before the Christmas weekend, the U.S. Justice Department cracked open the door for Internet gambling, and a small crack may be all the powerful industry needs to muscle its way into homes far and wide.

Those who value Florida's wholesome image are going to have a tough challenge overcoming this year's case of gambling fever.

But the battle against opening the floodgates to gambling is worth fighting. Some history: A half-century ago, Congress had the good sense to effectively ban gambling done over the telephone. The law has worked well to deter bookmakers and limit the gaming industry to states where it is invited to operate.

When Internet gambling began gaining popularity, a 2006 law updated the 1961 Wire Act. The change prohibits gambling businesses from taking bets from people over the Internet, if placing those bets violates other federal or state laws.

The new law built on the foundation of the old one, and now that foundation appears to be cracking if not collapsing. Written long before the Internet, the 1961 law failed to anticipate today's wired and wireless world. It made it a crime to use wire communication to assist betting on "any sporting event or contest, or for the transmission of wire communication which entitles the recipient to receive money or credit as a result of bets or wages."

Until Dec. 23, that was interpreted to cover all interstate betting on the Internet. Now the federal interpretation is that a state may put lottery operations online within that state, because the old law was just about sporting events.

Gambling interests are celebrating because they correctly anticipate that states will be happy to exploit the Internet. Next would come networks of states, then the whole country.

Florida leaders have been talking about trying to squeeze more money out of the lottery for education. If they make the mistake of taking the lottery onto the Internet, stopping other games from following will be hard, if not impossible.

The tax revenue involved, with no need for a visible tax increase, will be a huge temptation for state lawmakers everywhere.

Once a state offers online games, it will have no incentive at all to make sure players' bets come only from within their state boundaries. And once states are gambling on the Internet, other legal operations, such as that of the Seminole Tribe, will demand to do it too. And if the old law applies only to sports, highly addictive video poker and such games would appear to be uncovered.

Some online gambling is already done but is limited by federal laws. One law discourages credit card companies from participating in online casinos. Poker sites warn customers that some credit cards won't work. But many other ways have been found to separate gamblers from their cash, including a direct money transfer from the customer's bank to the online casino.

However it is happening, global online gambling is expanding. Type "online poker sites" into Google and you get 12.3 million hits. But should the current cloud of legal uncertainty in the United States be lifted from online gambling, the tsunami of promotional advertising would swamp the country. The potential damage is hard to calculate. The addictive game would beckon from everywhere an Internet connection is available.

If the states take a cut, revenue would pour in. But let's remember that money would be pouring out of the bank accounts of ordinary folks who would have less to spend on everything else.

Congress in 1961 realized the social ills that would follow unfettered bookmaking by telephone. Of course they didn't think to ban telephones in visual card games because no one would be gullible enough to play poker blindly over the phone.

Much has changed since, but human nature is the same. Historic increases in opportunities to gamble will increase the number of gamblers and big-time losers.

The burden is on Florida and other states to hold the door shut that the Justice Department has unlocked. Once the games begin, there is little chance of stopping them.