Desperate to find new sources of revenue to reduce the deficit, Congress is considering making some internet gambling legal — and taxing it. The House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday gave its stamp of approval to a bill that would effectively legalize online poker and other nonsports betting, just four years after the federal government banned it. Critics of the ban say it merely drove Web-based casinos offshore, and that repealing it will net the government $42 billion over 10 years. Should Congress try to bring them back? (Watch a Fox Business report about the legislation)
Lifting the ban helps everyone: Pulling the plug on the "ill-advised" internet gambling ban is a no-brainer, says Nick Saint at Business Insider. Washington is powerless to prevent online betting, anyway, and this way it at least gets a big new source of tax revenue. And this would be a "huge win for online poker sites that had their businesses devastated by the 2006 ban."
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