“This study should provide further incentive for the Obama administration and Congress to act quickly to regulate Internet gambling,” said the director of H2, Simon Holliday, in a statement accompanying the report.
Holliday remarked that this and past studies have shown that by trying to ban online gambling rather than regulate it, US lawmakers are spending billions rather than collecting billions, all while failing to protect US consumers from unsavory elements in the gambling industry.
Barney Frank is promising to soon push to advance his proposal to regulate online casinos. A deadline of June 1st looms, as that is the implementation date for UIGEA rules against online gambling payment transactions.
Regulation of Internet gaming seems to be a growing cause in Congress, as bipartisan legislators have called for the suspension of the UIGEA as well as submitted bills using funding from Internet gambling taxes to pay for tax reform and foster care, among other causes.