US House seen approving Internet gambling ban

WASHINGTON, July 12 (Reuters) The US House was expected to approve a Republican-written bill to crack down on Internet gambling, in what critics said was an election-year appeal to the party's conservative base.

The bill aimed to ban most forms of Internet gambling, which generates some 12 billion dollars annually worldwide. It is part of the Republican party's emphasis on moral values as congressional elections approach this fall.

''This is a scourge on our society. It causes innumerable problems,'' Rep. Bob Goodlatte, one of the bill's sponsors, said in a speech on the House floor. Goodlatte, a Virginia Republican, has sought to pass an Internet gambling ban for nearly a decade.

Opponents, meanwhile, criticized the bill as a politically motivated bid to stir up social conservatives and boost Republican prospects in the November elections.

''It's politics, plain and simple,'' said Michael Bolcerek, president of the 30,000-member Poker Players Alliance, which is willing to support some regulation of online poker games but opposes an outright ban.

Debate on the bill began on the House floor on Tuesday morning, with a vote expected later in the day. Backers expressed confidence that the bill would win approval.

Prospects for similar legislation in the US Senate remained unclear with relatively few work days left before the November elections. Arizona Republican Sen. Jon Kyl was said to be seeking a Senate bill to which he could attach anti-gambling language.

The House bill, sponsored by Goodlatte and Iowa Republican Jim Leach, would make it illegal for banks and credit card companies to make payments to online gambling sites.

BROAD SUPPORT FROM CONSERVATIVES It has broad support among conservative and religious activist groups, which want to keep gambling out of easy reach of minors. To win more backing among lawmakers, the bill included language specifically exempting horse racing and lotteries, and dropped enforcement provisions for banks that fail to block credit card payments, according to congressional aides.

The bill would have broad impact on the Internet gambling industry, which gets half its revenue from American gamblers.

Lawmakers say an estimated 2,300 gambling sites now exist on the Internet.

Investors in some British-based gaming companies such as Partygaming Plc and 888 Holdings Plc have closely monitored US legislation. In yesterday trading on the London Stock Exchange, 888 Holdings was up about 1.5 per cent while Partygaming was unchanged.

A spokesman for Leach, Greg Wierzynski, denied suggestions that the move was politically-motivated. He noted that Leach has been pushing Congress to take up the issue for many years.

''It's not an effort to assuage or pander to a specific interest group,'' Wierzynski said.

Democrat Barney Frank of Massachusetts said he thought the bill was ''outrageous.'' ''If people want to do something, and it doesn't hurt anybody else, we ought to mind our own business,'' Frank said on Monday. ''This is a bill to tell adults not to do something because people in this body disapprove of what they do.'' House lawmakers will debate one proposed amendment, which would eliminate the exceptions in the bill for horseracing and state-owned lotteries. ''Let's get rid of all of this if we are going to do it,'' said Democrat John Conyers of Michigan.

REUTERS SY KP0917