Senator Bachus Outright Lies To Slander Online Gambling Bill

Deverensky notes that there is no empirical study linking online gambling and attempted suicide.

Barney Frank's HR 5767 failed to make it out of the Financial Services Committee earlier this month, being stalemated by a 32-32 tie. What that statement doesn't include are the fictional numbers and indefensible lies Senator Spencer Bachus of Alabama told to defeat the bill denying enforcement of the UIGEA, and promoting the regulation of online casinos.

Bachus called in every political favor he could find, and relied on creating emotional turmoil among the constituents of the undecided by stating such clever observations as "everyone involved in this business is supporting criminal enterprise." His excellently flawed logic derived from the fact that the UIGEA made these enterprises criminal, and that passage of Frank and McDermott bills would then make it not criminal.

But perhaps Bachus' worst sin was asserting that one-third of all college students had been found by a study to be suicidal. Online Casino Advisory demanded to know, what study? What were the controls? Where did these numbers come from?

They ostensibly come from a study at McGill University by Dr. Jeffrey Derevensky; but now Dr. Deverensky says there is no such evidence in his report. Deverensky notes that there is no empirical study linking online gambling and attempted suicide.

Derevensky went on to praise regulation as the best and safest way to control online gaming operators, and noted that Congress could best address the issue by licensing online casinos and requiring safeguards preventing use by minors and discouraging compulsive gambling.

As stated in these pages, Bachus has shown total disregard for fact or truth in promoting his rejection of gambling. Hopefully, his constituents realize how foolish this man has revealed himself to be.