Much Awaited Barney Frank Bill Introduced
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The Barney Frank bill has finally been introduced. The bill sets out the structure for licensing and regulating online gambling sites with proposed terms and conditions that will need to be fulfilled by online gambling sites in order for them to qualify to receive a license and what they need to do to maintain their licenses once they have been granted.
The bill includes a clause which gives each individual state and Indian Tribe the "ability to limit Internet gambling operators from offering Internet gambling to persons located within its territory by opting out of the provisions of the Act."
Licensees are expected to provide adequate measures to verify identity and age, and will also need to include programs for responsible gaming, self-exclusion programs and help to prevent problem gambling. Licensees will also have to ensure that state laws are carried out when providing online gambling, and ensure that online gambling is only provided in forms that the individual state has chosen to legalize. This law could meant that a specific online casino game may need to be excluded from an online casino package for certain states. Unexpected in the bill is the requirement that online gambling licensees will bear the responsibility to assess the taxes that need to be paid on gambling winnings before making payouts to players. The bill reads: "Appropriate mechanisms to ensure that all taxes relating to Internet gambling from persons engaged in Internet gambling are collected at the time of any payment of any proceeds of Internet gambling." |
