Internet Casino Foe Bachus Admits Online Gaming Gaining Momentum

Alabama Congressman Spencer Bachus says it may be difficult for gambling opponents to continue preventing the growing movement to regulate Internet casinos from succeeding.

Representative Spencer Bachus, perhaps the most virulently anti-gambling advocate of any US Congressman, says preventing the regulation and legalization of Internet gaming is getting tougher. Bachus admits that packaging the UIGEA online casino ban in an important port security act caught gambling supporters by surprise, and allows that such trickery won't work again.

“We caught them off guard last time,” Bachus told Politico.com. “This time, they won’t be off guard.”

Bachus concedes that the political maneuvering and manipulation that led to the passing of the UIGEA and the stalemate of Barney Frank's bill last year to force definition of the UIGEA may not succeed this year.

Bachus did continue to make wild and unproven statements against online casinos, saying Internet gambling is the US's "fastest-growing addiction." The comment reminded many of Bachus' claims last year that a quarter of all teenagers who tried online gambling attempted suicide, a remark refuted by the very author of the study he was referencing.

Growing popular will, combined with the increased Democratic presence in Congress and the bipartisan support of a rising number of Republicans who are rejecting Christian conservatism to return to their libertarian roots, have led legislative observers to believe Frank's latest bill to regulate online gambling has an excellent chance of passing.