WASHINGTON (AP) -- The government is giving U.S. financial
institutions another six months to comply with regulations designed
to ban Internet gambling.
The rules would prohibit financial institutions from accepting
payments from credit cards, checks or electronic fund transfers to
settle online wagers.
The rules were supposed to take effect next week. Instead, the
Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve say they'll be delayed
until June of next year.
And that's welcome news to Congressman Barney Frank, a key
Democratic opponent of the ban on online gambling. He says the
delay will give Congress a chance to overturn a law passed in 2006,
when Republicans controlled Congress.
Frank wants to let the Treasury Department license and regulate
online gambling companies that service American customers. He
argues that it should be legal as a matter of personal liberty, and
that the federal government could collect increased tax revenues if
Internet gambling is regulated.
The financial industry had sought a delay. It said the rules
would be hard to enforce because there was no clear definition of
what constitutes Internet gambling.