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facilitate the distribution of gambling proceeds.23   Still

other federal laws may apply to Internet gambling.24

Federal law enforcement agents thus lack not the authority

but the will to go after Internet gambling.

The Justice Department has admitted that federal law

already prohibits transmitting gambling information via the

Internet but confesses that enforcing the law "isn't one

of our priorities."25   Even Senator Kyl's office admits

that he "has the view that it is already against the law

to gamble on the Internet."26   Given that courts have hard-

ly had a chance to apply existing laws to Internet gaming,

why would Congress rush to pass new and potentially unnec-

essary legislation?

A close look at recent legislative proposals suggests

that, by invoking the supposed need to address the horrors

of Internet gambling, Congress aims to expand federal power

over both currently legal gambling activities and the

Internet as a whole.  Enforcing the proposed statutes would

require law enforcement officials to engage in detailed,

constant, and intrusive monitoring of citizens' Internet

use.  That would wreak havoc on the Internet and our civil

liberties while doing little to inhibit Internet gambling.

The Kyl Bill

Senator Kyl's Internet Gambling Prohibition Act of

1997 initially banned every sort of online commercial con-

test, everywhere in the United States, for everyone

involved.27   That blanket prohibition stirred up a swarm of

lobbyists,28 however, and Kyl amended the bill.  As passed

by the Senate in 1998,29 Kyl's bill included a loophole for

certain sectors of the incumbent gambling industry, such

as state lotteries and intrastate parimutuel activities,

when conducted by parties licensed under state or federal

law.30   Another loophole exempted widely popular fantasy

sport leagues from prosecution.31   Apart from those conces-

sions to special interests, Kyl's bill continued to sub-

ject Internet gambling to a blanket ban.32   The Internet

Gambling Prohibition Act failed to make it to the presi-

dent's desk in 1998, but Kyl has vowed to renew his fight

in the 106th Congress.33

Kyl presented his bill as merely an update of the

Wire Act, a federal statute that already regulates wager-

ing over the wires.  In fact, however, Kyl targeted

Internet gambling for new and special penalties.  His bill

would subject amateur bettors to federal liability for

gambling,34 whereas the Wire Act applies only to people