Congressman Barney Frank told House members he is aware that some people struggle with gambling addiction, but he doesn't want to protect them.
"Do you prohibit some adults from doing something because a small number of adults are going to abuse it?" the Democrat asked. "It is a terrible mistake to say the government has an obligation to protect adults from making poor choices in matters that affect them."
Frank, chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services, introduced a bill earlier this year that would make online gambling legal.
Frustrated by the passage last year of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), online poker players and foreign Internet gambling operators – who stand to lose more than $6 billion a year under the UIGEA – are pushing to reverse the law.
Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., chairman of the committee, introduced the Internet Gambling Regulations and Enforcement Act, H.R. 2046, earlier this year. Unlike what the title seems to suggest, it would make gambling online legal.
Chad Hills, analyst for gambling research and policy at Focus on the Family Action, said Frank was looking for support for his proposal – one that would open the 230 million households with computers to the assault of predatory Internet gambling operators.
"This invasive legislation again opens the door for thousands of Internet casinos to access every Internet-connected home in the United States," he said, "without state or voter approval."
The bill would override all federal and state gambling regulations, Hills said.
"In 2006 Congress passed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act in order to protect children and households," he said. "Now Barney Frank wants to undo that protection and, instead, protect the predators."
The Rev. Greg Hogan, pastor of the First Baptist Church in Barberton, Ohio, testified about his son who became addicted to online gambling – an addiction that led to bank robbery.
"What could have put my son in the state of mind to do that act?" he said. "The answer has to do with illegal Internet gambling."
Hills said Frank couldn't be more off-base in wanting to expand gambling.
"The National Gambling Impact Study Commission estimates that 15 million Americans have a problem or pathological addiction to gambling, and more underage children are addicted than adults," he said. "Counselors today calculate that the number of people with gambling addictions averages closer to 20 million. Imagine 285 NFL football stadiums filled to capacity – that's how many men, women and children have a problem or pathological gambling addiction in the U.S. alone."
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(Paid for by Focus on the Family Action)
