Rep. Peter King’s (R-NY) incendiary comments about the National Security Agency’s surveillance programs last week ended up overshadowing some more substantial news: his introduction of the Internet Gambling Regulation, Enforcement, and Consumer Protection Act of 2013, a bill that would explicitly legalize online gambling across the country.
By now, most industries — retail, banking, publishing — have online counterparts. The US gambling industry does not. Heavy regulation prevents casinos, Native American tribes, and private companies from opening online gaming rooms, a business that is booming in other places such as the UK.
The idea that online gambling is illegal came from a broad interpretation of the Wire Act, which outlawed interstate sports betting over "a wire communication facility" in 1961. The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 then made it a crime to accept payments in connection with "illegal" online gambling; this change facilitated the 2011 crackdown on US poker sites, which had previously been allowed to operate unmolested. But at the end of 2011, the Justice Department issued a pivotal new interpretation of the Wire Act, deciding that it only applied to sports bets.

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Even if no federal law passes, Muny is confident that online gaming is on an inevitable march to acceptability. "We’re not seeing a big coalition against this the way we did six or seven years ago," he said. "When the legislation passed in New Jersey, there wasn’t a peep. It’s becoming more seen as a reality at this point. It’s just how it’s going to happen."
Resourse: https://theverge.com/2013/6/19/4444738/