$52b Predicted in Online Gambling Taxes

The United States could raise nearly $52 billion in revenue in the next decade if it lifts its ban on online gambling and taxes it instead, a new study has found.

The study, prepared by accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, could breathe new life into the campaign to overturn the 2006 Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), which effectively banned Internet gambling by outlawing the transfer of funds from a financial institution to Internet gambling sites.

"There is a dramatic need to have a regulated system that protects American consumers. Right now, it's the Wild West," Reuters quoted Jeffrey Sandman, spokesman for the Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative, as saying.

The report, entitled "Estimate of federal revenue effect of proposal to regulate and tax online gambling," was prepared for UC Group, an online payment service company that would benefit from the legalization of online gambling in the United States.

PwC's figures were based on the effects of the hypothetical passing into law of H.R. 2046, the "Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act of 2007", which provides for the licensing and regulation of lawful Internet gambling by the Director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, and H.R. 2607, a companion bill to H.R. 2046 that would impose a fee on companies licensed to provide online gambling services in the U.S.

Pro-gambling campaigner and House of Representatives Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-MA) is planning to reintroduce a bill this year to overturn the 2006 ban.