Bizarre Attack on Online Gambling

The debate over online gambling laws in the US congress has intensified in recent weeks, with staunch anti-gambling advocate Rep. Spencer Bachus (Republican - Alabama) using harsh words in his fight against a bill that would reverse a 2006 federal law that effectively banned online gambling.

Re-legalizing online gambling
The Payments System Protection Act, put forward by Rep. Barney Frank (Democrat - Massachusetts) and Rep. Ron Paul (Republican - Texas) is intended to roll back the 2006 Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, which outlawed the transfer of funds from a financial institution to Internet gambling sites (with the exception of certain things such as online lotteries and horse racing). 

The bill suffered a setback on June 25 when the House Financial Services Committee split along party lines and voted a 32-32 stalemate on the amendment to the bill made by Rep. Peter King (Republican - New York).

Bachus accuses
"The fastest growing addiction in America is not drugs, it's gambling," Bachus told Congress on June 25, before going on to draw some bizarre links between online gambling and the pornography industry.

"We are going to try to stop child pornography and illegal gambling over the Internet. We don't want you partnering, as the FBI says, with child pornography sites and pornography sites," Bachus said.

Bachus quoted reports that problem gambling doubles within 10 miles of a gambling facility. "The Internet puts that gambling facility right in the home, right in the dorm room, right in the bedroom of the teenager or college student," he said.

He claimed the motivation behind opposing the bill was protecting youth, citing a study by Canada's McGill University in which it was claimed that one-third of college students who have gambled online eventually try to commit suicide.

Finally, Bachus used some catchy slogans borrowed from a professor at the University Illinois. "The Internet is crack-cocaine for gamblers. There are no needle marks. There is no alcohol on the breath. You just click your mouse and you lose your house," he said.

Excuse us, but
Child pornography?! Crack-cocaine?! Suicides?!

These accusations are quite off the mark. Online gambling, even if currently legally challenged in Bachus' home country, does not deserve such slander. For that what this is: bizarre slander.