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[Editor's note: This article in no way constitutes legal advice. If you have questions of a legal nature, please consult an attorney.]

I had thought a federal prohibition on online gambling wouldn’t pass. After all, it bestows liability on institutions like credit card companies, and their lobbying efforts are fierce. It turns out I may have been wrong.

Congress has passed a law that may do just that. H.R. 4954 is called the “SAFE Port Act.” You can look at the actual language of the bill as posted online. In the typical sausage-making that is our legislative process, gambling restrictions are being shoe-horned into a bill about homeland security.

For reasons unknown to me, the actual language of Section 802 of the bill, entitled “Prohibition on acceptance of any payment instrument for unlawful Internet gambling” and Section 803, entitled “Internet gambling in or through foreign jurisdictions” is not included in the online posting.

I have no idea what the bill actually proposes, if anything, that will affect e-gambling.

Many news organizations apparently assume that the new bill will be identical to the old H.R. 4411, forbidding U.S. financial institutions from profiting from online gambling.

As Christine Hurt of the Conglomerate Blog posts,

Of course, gamblers can wager through offshore financial institutions like Neteller, etc. Where there is a will, there’s a way. But our state lotteries and tribal casinos (which were excepted in the conference report) can sleep tight knowing that their family friendly gaming operations will not be cannibalized by evil offshore gambling.

I’ll let you know about any further developments.

Hanging Shingle is a solo practitioner in the State of Texas. He writes about the legality of arguments in daily events and cases through his blog, Hanging a Shingle.