Leach Introduces New House Prohibition Bil

James Leach, R-Iowa, on Friday introduced H.R. 4411 (The Internet Gambling Enforcement Act) in the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services.

The legislation is another version of past efforts to prevent the use of certain payment instruments, credit cards and fund transfers for Internet gambling, thus taking steps to eliminate Internet gambling.

Michael Borden, a legislative assistant to Leach, said that Leach has been wanting to introduce an Internet gambling measure for a long time and that this version is very close to the Senate bill drafted by Jon Kyl, R-Ariz. Leach and Kyl, Borden said, are working together to eliminate the bicameral hurdle the previous House bill couldn't overcome.

"The Senate will pass something and then the House will pass something different," Borden said. "The House will act; the Senate won't and vice versa. So to eliminate one of the obstacles we faced before, we decided to work with Sen. Kyl's office."

The crux of the legislation is to break the link between the gambler and the operator by making it illegal for customers to use a credit card to gamble online.

Its introduction in the House came four days after Leach distributed a letter asking members of Congress to get behind efforts to prohibit I-gaming.

Borden said the bill is supported by the NFL, NBA, NHL, NCAA and Major League Baseball.

Click here to view a copy of H.R. 4411.