Biden Not Bad for Online Gambling

It's official - Joe Biden is Barack Obama's choice to be the Democratic vice-presidential candidate in the 2008 US Presidential Election. So what would a Democrat administration mean for the future of online gambling in the United States of America, now that Biden is on board?

Biden's record
Delaware Senator Joe Biden hasn't made many statements on online gambling during his 35 years as a legislator. A search of his voting record and of gambling-advocate websites does not show a man rushing to legalize online gambling. But the little evidence there is would warm the hearts of pro-gambling advocates.

Biden's voting record shows that he was one of just 10 senators to vote against a 1998 Internet gambling amendment that set higher penalties for knowingly gambling over the Internet and for knowingly creating an Internet gambling business.

More recently, Biden approved the Security and Accountability for Every Port Act of 2006, which included the controversial Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, which effectively banned Internet gambling by outlawing the transfer of funds from a financial institution to Internet gambling sites. However, Biden was not alone - 98 senators approved the bill, with just two lone senators (one Democrat and one Republican) voting no.

Ratings
The website Political Base, which claims to be a resource for people wanting to make informed decisions when casting their vote, ranked all the main presidential candidates on the question of whether they support legalization of gambling. Biden was ranked as moderately pro-legalization.

Barack Obama strangely does not appear on the list, while Republican presidential candidate John McCain was rated as strongly anti-legalization. McCain is set to announce his vice-presidential candidate in the next week.