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remain overseas while operating Internet gambling sites.56
Law enforcement officials in the United States can therefore
neither arrest nor sentence anyone who offers Internet
gambling services from a safe harbor abroad.
Even if through international negotiations U.S.
authorities managed to export a domestic ban on Internet
gambling, that sort of foreign trade carries too high a
price. As the Department of Justice observed in its cri-
tique of the Kyl bill, "If we request that foreign coun-
tries investigate, on our behalf, conduct that is legal in
the foreign state, we must be prepared to receive and act
upon foreign requests for assistance when the conduct com-
plained of is legal, or even constitutionally protected,
in the United States."57 That threat looms all too large,
given that most foreign states regulate speech in ways
forbidden by the First Amendment.
Political Demand for Internet Gambling
As discussed above, consumers have already demonstrated
a huge demand for Internet gambling. Soon, though, the
prohibitionists will have more than angry voters to worry
about. Law enforcement agents have seized the media spot-
light by telling scary stories and demanding new powers to
crush Internet gambling. As the futility of prohibition
becomes more and more evident, however, cooler heads in
state revenue departments will begin to see Internet gam-
bling as a huge new cash cow. Prohibition merely ensures
that Internet gamblers will ship their money to places
like Antigua, New Zealand, and Australia. State governors
and legislatures will soon demand a share of that bounty.
The same political forces that have led to the widespread
legalization of lottery, casino, and riverboat gambling will
eventually favor the legalization of Internet gambling.58
Indeed, the trend toward the legalization of Internet
gambling has already started. When he introduced his bill
banning Internet gambling, Senator Kyl proclaimed,
"Gambling erodes values of hard work, sacrifice, and per-
sonal responsibility."59 He nonetheless amended his bill to
ensure that the incumbent gambling industry would remain
free to exploit the Internet (even while would-be competi-
tors remained shut out). Kyl's generosity attracted the
attention of the Department of Justice, which noted that
"the numerous exceptions for parimutuel wagering would
expand the scope of permissible parimutuel activities
beyond what is currently permitted by existing law."60 As
Internet gambling grows and spreads, both in its official-
ly sanctioned legal forms and in its unstoppable illegal