does anyone know the vegas line on this bill getting through the senate?

A bill passed by the House today would once and for all end the sinful act of Americans wantonly engaging in games of chance from the comfort of their homes and put the final nail in the coffin of Internet gambling.

Except of course for betting on the horses. That would still be okay to do online.

But beyond that, Satan will just have to take a back seat to virtue and… well, wait. The numbers rackets run by state lottery commissions would also still be allowed on the Internet. After all, unlike poker, blackjack, and other casino games offered by the greedy online merchants of false hopes and broken dreams, state lotteries not only offer far worse odds to players but also require absolutely no skill whatsoever. (In Washington, this is what we call “drawing a moral distinction.”)

But other than those two exceptions, both of which coincidentally are represented by powerful domestic interests and funnel large amounts of cash to state and local governments, we will once and for all vanquish from the Internet this…

Okay, vanquish might be too strong a word. Apparently some of the more strict enforcement provisions requiring banks to deny the use of credit cards for Internet gambling didn’t make it into the final draft.

But aside from those minor caveats, many consider the bill a needed step to stem the rising tide of Internet gambling.  University of  Illinois Business Professor John Kindt, who has spent years carefully researching the phenomenon and is widely considered an authority on the subject, persuasively argues that Internet gambling is uniquely destructive in that, “You just click your mouse and lose your house.”

While that logic may seem unassailable at first, other scholars have introduced equally compelling theses including, “Click a lot, win the pot,” and “You can win the cash, if your computer don’t crash.”

Clearly, this will remain a controversy within academic circles for some time to come.

Regardless, it was a real victory for co-sponsor Bob Goodlatte, who said of Internet gambling, "This is a scourge on our society. It causes innumerable problems,” every one of which is apparently assuaged in the presence of horses and numbered ping pong balls.

Perhaps most importantly of all though, the bill could finally get gambling out of the brightly lit arena of regulated, licensed and publicly traded companies and back into the dark alleys and seedy back rooms of organized crime.

Where it belongs.

J.