For the past several years now, there have been numerous attempts by different lawmakers to push through Internet gambling prohibition measures, but these attempts have been met with minimal success. Although the United States publicly takes the position that Internet gambling is illegal and has used the 1960s Wire Act, which prohibits the use of phone lines for placing wagers, to prosecute online casino operators, Internet gambling has not only not gone away but it is becoming increasingly popular and mainstream among the U.S. population. Trends indicate that the popularity of the Internet gambling isn’t going to diminish anytime soon either. Poker, which has enjoyed great popularity for some time now and even greater popularity since certain television channels began broadcasting live poker tournaments, has quickly become one of the most popular online casino games too which only serves to fuel the appeal of online gambling.

Online gambling’s growing popularity in the U.S. coupled with the fact that there are more pressing political, social, and economic concerns than Internet gambling, make anti online gambling measures unlikely to succeed. Nevertheless, the lack of support for anti online gambling measures hasn’t stopped Senator John Kyle (R-Arizona) from introducing the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. Kyle’s act is a more sweeping anti-gambling bill and does not differentiate between online gambling that is illegal and regular, legal gambling activities. Moreover, Kyle’s Bill does not contain exemptions, as do other Internet anti-gambling bills, which makes Kyle’s bill even less likely to pass. In the year 2000, an anti-Internet gambling bill introduced by Representative Jim Leach (R-IA) was ultimately killed by special interests seeking exemptions. The failure of Leach’s bill, which included exemptions and still didn’t pass, does not bode well for Kyle’s bill, which has no exemptions.