Congressional analysts crunching the numbers on the possible Treasury impact of Barney Frank's new online gambling law estimate it could raise billions in coming years.
The analysis, conducted by non-partisan congressional scorekeepers suggested that if passed, Frank's new bill would add an extra $42 billion into Treasure coffers over the next 10 years.
Of course the bill still needs to pass before that can happen, and while its list of co-sponsors continues to grow (around 60 at last count), passage through the house and senate is by no means guaranteed.
The bill, H.R. 2267, the Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act seeks to repeal the current current Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act and replace it with a licensing and regulatory regime that will allow approved operators to accept bets from US residents subject to gaming tax revenues.
The potential for additional government revenues is winning the draft bill a degree of bi-partisan support. A story in this morning's Wall Street Journal quoted one Congressman, Rep. Jim McDermott (D., Wash.), as saying,
'I'm always looking for money to deal with some of the problems I see out there...This looked like a good place to find some revenue'.
A number of Democratic members are also opposed in principle to UIGEA's infringement of individual's freedom of choice.
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