• Reuters/Online Media Daily, Friday, February 27, 2009 11:30 AM

According to a new study, the U.S. could raise nearly $52 billion in revenue over the next 10 years by taxing Internet gambling activity. Of course, this would require lifting the three-year-old Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, which makes it illegal for credit card and other companies to knowingly process payments made through offshore gambling operations. European online gambling companies lost billions in market value after Congress passed the 2006 law.

Gambling supporters hope the new analysis, prepared by the accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, will help repeal the legislation. "There is a dramatic need to have a regulated system that protects American consumers. Right now, it's the Wild West," Jeffrey Sandman, a spokesman for the Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative, told Reuters on Wednesday. Indeed, Internet gambling has grown despite the legislation. According to Reuters, PwC's latest estimate of how much the U.S. could raise by regulating and taxing Internet gambling is 22% higher than it was in 2007 because of increased spending by U.S. consumers.

Meanwhile, as reported in Online Media Dailyl, U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank is planning to reintroduce a bill to overturn the 2006 ban, which was approved when Republicans controlled both houses of Congress and Republican George W. Bush was in the White House.

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