Kyl's Anti-Online Gambling Counter Attack

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With Barney Frank's UIGEA repeal initiative gaining ground, online gambling's would-be nemesis steps forward again

Online gambling's arch-enemy, Arizona Republican Senator Jon Kyl used a Senate Judiciary Committee enquiry to again push his anti-online gambling agenda last week.

The Senator was part of an enquiry into the dismissal for inappropriate conduct of 8 US Attorneys recently. In the hot seat was US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, and Kyl used the opportunity to put the spotlight back on the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, which he helped draft and ram through a late night session of Congress attached to the Safe Ports Bill last year.

In his assessment of the exchange, respected lawyer Lawrence G. Walters of GameAttorneys.com said the questioning appeared to catch the Attorney General off guard, as the hearing related to his responsibility for the alleged improprieties associated with the firings of the U.S. attorneys.

Kyl was initially on topic with his first question to Gonzales, but he then digressed, requesting a meeting to discuss "crime victims" to which Gonzales had little option but to agree.

Kyl then launched into a lengthy monologue listing the vices of online gambling, and describing his efforts to pass the UIGEA. He praised the Department of Justice for their successes in high profile industry arrests and the disruption of payment methods used by US online players.

He questioned Attorney General Gonzales regarding the soon to be promulgated regulations implementing the UIGEA, and the potential substance of those regulations, strongly urging Gonzales to agree that there is a need for “strong regulations.” Under some pressure, Gonzales agreed.

Kyl then pushed Gonzales to agree that the regulations would include a requirement that banks and financial institutions receive a list of specific bank accounts that belonged to known online gambling establishments, so that those accounts could be easily blocked. Gonzales hedged on that question, and repeatedly stated that he was not sure if that effort could be accomplished, but reassured Kyl that his office was doing everything it could to work with Kyl’s office and develop a strong set of regulations.

Clearly unsatisfied with that answer, Kyl repeatedly badgered Gonzales to agree that the regulations should include such a list. Finally, he accepted a concession from Gonzales that including such a list would strengthen the regulations.

Still on his off-topic diversion of the enquiry into online gambling, Kyl then discussed the urgent need to finalise the regulations, since they were “about to be issued.”  He indicated that the Treasury Department was waiting on some feedback from the Attorney General on various matters (presumably including the feasibility of the “list”).

Gonzales assured the Senator that he is working as quickly as possible on it, and doing everything that he can to assist in drafting the regulations.

Walters sums up the extraordinary exchange by surmising that it appeared as though Sen. Kyl is meeting some resistance from the Attorney General’s Office in developing the kind of regulations he envisions as most effective for implementing the UIGEA.

"The Attorney General obviously has a lot on his mind these days, and online gambling may not be the most important issue on his plate," Walters observes dryly.

"However, Gonzales has significant motivation to keep the Senators happy – particularly those on the Oversight Committee. But the practical reality involved in identifying and blocking specific accounts known to be used for online gambling transactions is rearing its ugly head, forcing the Attorney General to wrestle with the real world implications of this effort."

Kyl's timing in again using an unrelated enquiry to draw attention to the UIGEA could also be a reaction to the wide and growing publicity which political initiatives aimed at de-fanging the UIGEA have been achieving. Congressman Barney Frank has served notice that he is about to propose the repeal of what he has dubbed "the stupidest act ever passed" and the wheels are clearly in motion to achieve this and muster support from the American playing public to do so.