E-gambling ban questioned

Banning online gambling in the US is like the ban on alcohol during the Prohibition, said Britain's culture secretary, Tessa Jowell, in the run-up to an international conference on Internet gambling. According to the Associated Press, she said the ban "would make unregulated offshore sites the 'modern equivalent of speakeasies','' those secretive backroom bars of the 1920s. Congress tacked the legislation onto an unrelated law that was signed by President Bush earlier this month. The UK handles online gambling differently: "Under new British gambling laws, online operators have a 'social responsibility'' duty written into licenses and policed by the independent Gambling Commission watchdog," the AP reports. "It requires them to work to prevent underage gambling, give prominent warnings about addiction and inform users how much time and money they have spent on the site."