Congressman's letter urges colleagues to support gambling study

Congressman Jon Porter (R - Nev.), who introduced H.R. 5474 to Congress in May calling for a commission to study the impact of online gambling, recently wrote and distributed a letter to his fellow representatives to reinforce his point that Congress shouldn't make "any rash decisions without a comprehensive understanding of this intricate issue."

H.R. 5474, the Internet Gambling Study Commission Act was introduced as an alternative to H.R. 4777, the Internet Gambling Prohibition Act, and H.R. 4411, the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, which together would ban online gambling. Porter believes more research should be done on the subject before Congress acts on those bills.

In his letter, Porter draws the attention of his colleagues to an L.A. Times editorial that points out the hypocrisy of the proposed anti-gambling bills as well as the logic behind legalizing online gambling.

"That is why I have introduced legislation that would establish a bipartisan commission to study issues posed by the continued spread and growth of interstate commerce with respect to gambling," Porter says in the letter.

Porter also asks that Congressmen who are interested in cosponsoring his bill to contact him. When the bill was introduced May 24, it had 42 initial cosponsors and has since gained three more.

courtesy of Sarah Polson

News Added: 21 June, 2006

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