Lawmakers discourage online gambling rules

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-MA), Rep Pete King (R-NY) and 17 other Members of Congress are urging Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to postpone new rules designed to outlaw online gambling starting December 1, 2009. The lawmakers said the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, signed by President George W. Bush in 2006, to outlaw the practice is "flawed." The law is meant to prevent financial institutions from making payments associated with online gambling. While they are pushing regulators to make the change, the lawmakers wrote that legislation designed to postpone the effective date is "likely to move" in Congress.