Unlawful gambling bill is facing opposition

[Mika Ollila]

According to Reuters The House Resolution 4411 Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 is facing some opposition in the U.S. Senate. An aide to the U.S. Senate majority leader said on Thursday that the bill will not come up for a vote before the chamber takes its August recess.

The Republican-backed bill, which you may read here in its entirety or here as a summary, has been criticized by some as an election-year appeal to the party's conservative base.

The bill passed in the House of Representatives on July 11th by roll call vote. Here are the results with party breakdown:

	Democrat	Republican	Independent
Aye	115	201	1
Nay	76	17	0
Absent	10	12	0

Geographic Voting Pattern:


And from here you can view how each representative voted:
GovTrack: H.R. 4411: Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (Vote On Passage)


Did your representative vote Aye? If so, are you going to vote for him/her again?

[Rowena105]

I'm not from the States but I can tell you this that no matter who was running for office if they tried to dictate what I could or could not do with my money I would not be voting for them. Next they will tell you that you can't purchase alcoholic beverages or smokes or anything that they "DEEM" bad for you.

[sub-zero]

Yeah, I agree. I generally vote Republican, but this bill seems like crap.

[Avian]

I just don't really understand why they care so much. partypoker/">Party Poker has said that this will bankrupt them, as they will have to stop all business in the United States. Anti-Gambling legislation is completely unconstitutional. They only want to stop online gambling because they probably aren't getting their cut, since all of the head companies are international.

[kelkat]

How is it unconstitutional? Gambling is illegal in most states - that the state's right. The internet just let people break the state laws and not get caught. I said earlier that I hadn't even considered that our home games were breaking the law, but that's what it comes down to. I don't see how that is unconstitutional.

[Avian]

I'm saying that the state's laws are unconstitutional. They violate our basic rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. They do nothing to stop people from becoming addicted to gambling, and they just force addicts to go to dangerous sources, like bookies and underground poker clubs, to feed their habit. I'm also mad that the government is wasting their time on such pointless legislation.