Contact: Stacey Holliday, Concerned Women for America, 202-488-7000 ext. 126

WASHINGTON, Sept. 30 /Standard Newswire/ -- Concerned Women for America (CWA) applauds the passage of the Internet Gambling Prohibition and Enforcement Act sponsored by Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Arizona), which prohibits using credit cards, checks, and wire and electronic fund transfers used in Internet gambling. Online gambling is illegal and this bill seeks to extend the nation’s gambling regulations to the Internet. This bill is the Senate's version of the House bill, H.R. 4411, sponsored by Rep. Jim Leach (R-Iowa) and Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Virginia), which passed in July.

“We are ecstatic about the bill’s passage,” said Lanier Swann, CWA’s director of Government Relations. “Most Americans don’t realize that Internet gambling is a crime—it’s illegal. This is a monumental victory for families who have loved ones who are getting hooked to their ‘home casinos.’

“The correlation between gambling and bankruptcy has been shown time and time again. Gambling is a growing addiction that has now infiltrated our homes through the all-encompassing Internet. What we don’t want is a safe-guarding of easy, click-of-a-mouse access to gambling. This bill gives authority to the Department of Justice and state attorney generals to enforce the laws on the books and strangle illegal Internet gambling by cutting off the flow of money.   

“CWA commends Sen. Kyl for sponsoring this essential legislation needed to protect Americans from this harmful addiction.  We also thank Sen. Frist for his exemplary leadership on this issue.  We now call on President Bush to quickly sign the bill into law, thus defending the American family unit,” concluded Swann.

Concerned Women for America is the nation’s largest public policy women’s organization.