Internet Gambling Legislation Provides Opportunity to Generate Tens of Billions for Government Programs

Projections Reflect Increased Gambling by Americans Despite Attempts to
Prohibit the Activity

(Washington, D.C. – February 26, 2009) An updated analysis found that the U.S. could
receive as much as $51.9 billion in federal revenue over the next decade if Internet
gambling is regulated as proposed in legislation introduced by Representatives Barney
Frank (D-Mass.) and Jim McDermott (D-Wash.). The new revenue estimates are
approximately 22 percent larger than those of an earlier analysis prepared by
PricewaterhouseCoopers in 2007, reflecting the increased online gambling activities of
Americans despite attempts to prohibit activity through passage of the Unlawful Internet
Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006.

”This analysis further illustrates that the U.S. is missing the opportunity to collect billions
of dollars in federal revenues,” said Jeffrey Sandman, spokesman for the Safe and
Secure Internet Gambling Initiative. “We are optimistic that the Obama Administration
and Congress will pay closer attention to this issue as they seek to find new revenues
that can be generated without raising taxes for critical federal, state and local
government programs. Regulation is also needed to ensure there are safeguards to
protect against compulsive and underage gambling, money laundering, fraud and
identity theft.”

Representatives Frank and McDermott have expressed a commitment to re-introduce
legislation in the coming weeks that would regulate the industry and ensure revenues
that are currently lost to offshore gambling operators are collected and remain in the
U.S. Representative Frank previously introduced the Internet Gambling Regulation and
Enforcement Act of 2007 (H.R. 2046) that would establish a regulatory and enforcement
framework for licensed gambling operators to accept bets and wagers from individuals in
the U.S. In March 2008, Representative Jim McDermott (D-WA) introduced a
companion bill to H.R. 2046, the Internet Gambling Regulation and Tax Enforcement Act
of 2008 (H.R. 2607) which would tax regulated Internet gambling activities.

“The current ban on Internet gambling has proved to be a failure as millions of
Americans continue to gamble online each day,” said Sandman. “It’s time for Congress
to take action to regulate and tax Internet gambling to protect consumers and ensure
that the U.S. receives the billions in revenue it is due.”

The PricewaterhouseCoopers is available at:
www.safeandsecureig.org/media/pwctaxanalysis.pdf

About Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative

The Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative promotes the freedom of individuals to
gamble online with the proper safeguards to protect consumers and ensure the integrity
of financial transactions. For more information on the Initiative, please visit
www.safeandsecureig.org. The Web site provides a means by which individuals can
register support for regulated Internet gambling with their elected representatives.

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