Online Gambling Brought to Illinois by State Senator?
The Illinois Senate President, John Cullerton, has found a solution to the state's revenue problems and may propose it this legislative session. The Democrat from Chicago wants to expand state gaming to include online gambling.
Cullerton is proposing that Illinois start selling lottery tickets via the Internet, which would make it the first state to sell individual tickets online. He estimates that by allowing Internet sales, lottery revenues may increase by $300 million a year.
While some worried that the UIGEA may cause problems with ticket sales online, noted gambling and legal scholar I. Nelson Rose of Whittier Law School said that the federal law could not interfere with instate purchases. As long as Illinois blocked other states, the system would be legally acceptable.
Currently, the New Hampshire Lottery is finding credit card sales of online lottery subscriptions are being blocked by credit card companies wary of the UIGEA. However, Treasury Department officials have said the New Hampshire transactions are perfectly legal, although they also stated misinterpretation of the UIGEA is not their problem.
The lack of definition of what is illegal gambling per the UIGEA continues to baffle legal, financial, and legislative officials. David Gale, executive director of the North American Association of State and Provincial Lotteries, told the Chicago Tribune, "I think it's an issue of not clearly understanding what exactly the rights are of the state in this issue."
In the meantime, members of the Remote Gaming Association and other shut-out foreign online casino operators wonder why Internet gambling exists and is expanding in the US even as they are persecuted by the Department of Justice and forced out by the UIGEA.
