Feds Block Online Gambling

The Treasury Department and Federal Reserve will effectively outlaw most forms of online gambling with new rules that bar banks and credit card companies from processing transactions related to internet betting. The banking and gaming industry and House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank oppose the new rules, reports the Wall Street Journal. The regulations, issued yesterday, will give companies just over a year to fully comply.

Frank calls the news rules "a disaster" and is asking Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to delay implementing the rules until Congress and the incoming administration have a chance to review the 2006 law that authorized them. Most gambling websites would cease to function—but online betting on horse racing, interstate lotteries and fantasy sports are exempt from the new rules.
(More internet gambling stories.)