The Daily Kos has a fairly good writeup on the entire struggle over the last 10 years to get some sort of gambling ban through Congress. While many have been blaming Bill Frist over recent Harrah’s campaign contributions, just wait until you see the disgusting amounts of money the Republican party has shaken down Vegas for over the last 10 years.
When Republicans first began pushing internet gambling prohibition about ten years ago, it was a fairly straightforward proposition. As the titles of the legislation would indicate–Computer Gambling Prevention Act of 1996, Internet Gambling Prohibition Act of 1997–these were anti-gambling measures, no doubt about it. And the National Gambling Impact Study Commission report recommendations regarding internet gambling, released in June 1999, called for prohibition “Without allowing new exemptions or the expansion of existing federal exemptions to other jurisdictions.”
But there was a problem with this approach. The bills never made it to the floor for a vote. Too manny Members had gaming interests in their districts that would be harmed by the legislation. So, in order to sweeten the deal, loopholes began to show up in these bills. So many loopholes, in fact, that House Resources Committee Chairman Don Young wrote to Hastert to complain.