28-Oct-06. Online gaming crackdown America’s new ‘Prohibition’. Calgary Herald, C8.

Britain’s culture secretary Tessa Jowell warned that the U.S. ban on Internet gambling would make unregulated offshore sites the modern equivalent of speakeasies that opened in 1920s America when alcohol was banned during Prohibition. Earlier this month U.S. Congress added a provision to an unrelated bill that would make it illegal for banks and credit-card companies to settle payments for online gambling sites. U.S. officials have declined to participate in an international summit on Internet gambling that is taking place next week in London. Legislators from 30 countries will discuss ways to regulate the industry, including the protection of minors and keeping the industry free of crime.