Illinois Lawmakers Want Online Gambling In Lottery Form
Online gambling is a big issue in the US these days. In Illinois, they are checking with the US Department of Justice to see whether or not they can expand their lottery to include online gambling.
State lawmakers have already proposed legislation that would expand gambling in Illinois bars. Video machines would become legal under the legislation. Another proposal will allow off-track horse race betting.
The last piece of legislation is perhaps the most controversial. It would allow residents in Illinois to play the lottery from the comfort of their own homes by logging on through the Internet and picking their numbers electronically.
Other states allow online lottery gambling, but they must do so by offering lottery subscriptions. That means that residents must sign up to play the same numbers on a monthly basis. Up until recently, these states have not had any problem with this form of gambling.
In 2006, however, the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act was passed. The law prohibits online gambling, but does not specify exactly which forms of Internet gambling are illegal. The government has put the burden on financial institutions to police the illegal gambling.
State lotteries that were selling subscriptions to their service suddenly started having problems earlier this year. The credit card companies were denying payment for these subscriptions, fearing that paying the bills would be against the law.
The credit cards lumped lottery subscription sales into an entire group of online gambling related processing. The state involved quickly filed lawsuits to have the credit card companies pay these charges and stop blocking residents from signing up for the subscriptions.
Opponents of the online lottery gambling in Illinois say that the revenue generated would not be significant enough to justify changing state law. Proponents of the plan want to see first what the DoJ 's take on the matter is, then they will decide whether to move forward with the legislation.
July 24, 2009
Posted By Terry Goodwin
Staff Editor, CasinoGamblingWeb.com
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