The bill, sponsored by Rep. James Leach, an Iowa Republican, would make it unlawful for credit-card companies to collect payments for transactions with online-gaming sites.

Leach's bill will be blended into existing proposals drafted by Rep. Bob Goodlatte, a fellow Republican and a long-standing opponent of online gambling.

It is thought the proposals have widespread support among conservative and Christian groups, who are worried about how online gambling services could be easily accessed by children. However, the proposals are not likely to make it onto the statute book in this Congress, given that they would have to pass the House, go to the Senate and then be reconciled before mid-term elections this fall. However, an eventual strengthening of the Wire Act is likely to occur as a result.

According to Goodlatte and Leach, the global online gaming industry is worth about $12 billion annually, and the United States market accounts for about half of this. A US ban on the industry would therefore have a major effect on the global industry. PartyGaming, which launched on the London Stock Exchange amid much fanfare last year and is one of the major global players, is said to derive about 90% of its revenues from American punters.

Jurisdictions which have established themselves as favorable environments for online gaming firms to base their operations would also feel the effects of a US ban. The tiny Caribbean jurisdiction of Antigua & Barbuda, which is locked in an unequal struggle with the US over the jurisdiction's gambling industry, is reckoned to account for as much as 25% of total global turnover in the industry. Gibraltar, where PartyGaming is domiciled, and the Isle of Man are also establishing themselves as prominent e-gaming jurisdictions.

Goodlatte's bill, which was approved by the House Judiciary Committee last month, would update the 1961 Wire Act by adding an “enforcement mechanism” to address the situation in which a gambling business is located offshore but uses bank accounts in the United States.

In Goodlatte's words:

"Offshore online gambling websites are cash cows and the greed that propels these companies leads them to solicit bettors in the United States despite the fact that the Department of Justice already believes this activity is illegal."

"These offshore, fly-by-night Internet gambling operators are unlicensed, untaxed and unregulated and are sucking billions of dollars out of the United States."

Goodlatte’s bill also provides an additional tool to fight illegal gambling by allowing federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement to seek injunctions against any party to prevent and restrain violations of the Act. For example, law enforcement could use such injunctions to get assistance from ISPs to remove or disable access to hypertext links to online gambling sites that violate the Act.

The bill increases the maximum prison term for a violation of the law from 2 years to 5 years.