An eight-year campaign to restrict Internet gambling is likely to bring no results when Congress returns for a lame-duck session after the election, officials said.

U.S. far behind Britain with Internet gambling regulation

An eight-year campaign to restrict Internet gambling is likely to bring no results when Congress returns for a lame-duck session after the election, officials said, according to sfgate.com.

"The absence of consensus with respect to what is legal and what is carved out is going to continue to create problems," said Dan Walsh, a lobbyist for the Interactive Gaming Council, which represents online wagering companies.

Walsh called it unlikely that Congress will ban Internet gambling in a session expected to focus on passing a federal budget for next year. But he said lawmakers might soon pass legislation to regulate the industry.

The issue is a key concern for Las Vegas gambling companies, who analysts say are handcuffed by congressional inaction while shady corners of international commerce thrive.

In 1996, when lawmakers first sought to control Internet gambling, 30 Web sites received bets totalling $30 million.

This year, more than 1,800 Web sites are projected to accept about $7 billion in wagers, according to BetonSports.com.

By 2010, the Internet gambling market is expected to grow to $18.4 billion.

The last congressional action on Internet gambling occurred more than a year ago, when the Senate Banking Committee voted 19-0 on July 31, 2003, to approve restrictions proposed by Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz.

Kyl has spearheaded efforts to crack down on Internet gambling since 1996, and an aide said he may try again next year.

Congress appeared to have plenty of time to get a bill curtailing Internet gambling to President Bush. The House voted 319-104 on June 10, 2003, to outlaw the use of credit cards, checks and other bank instruments to pay for Internet bets.

The original version of Kyl's legislation was similar to the House bill. But the Senate Banking Committee wanted to prevent states from authorizing online wagers within their borders. That drew opposition from the American Gaming Association, which complained the Kyl bill would favor Indian casinos and the pari-mutuel industry over mainstream casinos.

Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., proposed a bill on March 12, 2003, to create a federal commission to study licensing and regulating companies taking bets online.

But the measure attracted only three co-sponsors, including Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev. It has to be reintroduced in the new Congress next year to stay alive.

Joseph Kelly, a business law professor at the State University of New York at Buffalo, agreed with Walsh that Conyers' proposal has a better chance of passage.

Kelly compared debates about online wagering in the U.S. and Britain, where regulations appear close to passage.

"It's going to be very difficult to argue that Internet gambling can't be regulated successfully if the British can do it," Kelly said.