From: Rep. Raul Grijalva <raul.grijalva@mail.house.

gov>
Subject: In Response to Your Message
Date: Monday, May 5, 2008, 12:55 PM
May 5, 2008

Dear Mr. S.:

Thank you for contacting my office with your thoughts regarding

Internet gaming and the Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement
Act of 2007.

I appreciate having the benefit of your views.

In 2006, Congress approved the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement

Act (UIGEA) after it was attached to a must-pass port security bill in
October. This bill was a transparent attempt to mobilize anti-gambling
voters before the November elections by targeting the financial
transactions of those who choose to gamble online.
Moreover, the law and
its regulations may simply be unworkable in its present form. This
legislation has placed the United States at odds with international
law, causing overseas trade disputes which have forced the WTO to rule
that the U.S. is in violation of its treaty obligations by not
granting full market access to online gambling companies.

For these reasons, I have decided to cosponsor legislation introduced

by Rep. Barney Frank, H.R. 2046, the Internet Gambling Regulation and
Enforcement Act of 2007. This bill would create an exemption to the
ban on online gambling for properly licensed operators, allowing
Americans to lawfully bet online, and recognizes that consumers can be
protected without restricting their freedom.

Traditional forms of legalized gambling already exist in nearly every

state. By continuing to prohibit Internet gambling in the United
States, the UIGEA has left Americans who choose to gamble online
without meaningful consumer protections. The proposed legislation
would institute practical and enforceable standards to bring
transparency to Internet gambling and provide consumers the
protections they expect and deserve.

Again, thank you for taking the time communicate with me about this
issue. I hope you will continue to do so in the future.

Sincerely,
Raul M. Grijalva
Member of Congress