Key Facts

• Current prohibition of Internet gambling is an unnecessary government intrusion into people’s private lives.
• Efforts to prohibit Internet gambling are futile as Americans continue to gamble online but in an unregulated and potentially unsafe environment.
• As Congress works to find funding for critical government programs, licensing and regulating Internet gambling could generate up to $40 billion dollars in revenues for the United States Treasury in the first ten years of enactment.
• Gambling is a popular domestic entertainment activity, with some form of gambling existing in every state.
• The global gaming market grossed approximately $258 billion in 2005, with North American residents accounting for an estimated 47 percent of the global gross gaming yield.
• Internet gambling is a licensed, regulated activity in more than 50 countries, providing billions of dollars in tax revenue to those countries.
• A licensing and regulatory framework for Internet gambling in the United States would combat against underage gambling, compulsive gambling, identity theft, money laundering and fraud.
• The United States currently allows betting on horse racing via the Internet.