Editor's Note: Why is Barney Frank (no relation l'm proud to say :) against this?  AML (Anti-Money Laundering) was designed in large part to prevent the funding of terrorist organizations.  I thought this law had passed in 2006, apparently they're tightening it up with this final rule.   

Banks told to halt money transfers for Internet gambling

The government today gave banks and other payment services a year to stop transfers of money to Internet gambling sites.

The move came as the Bush administration issued a final rule implementing the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006, which bans payments made through credit cards, electronic funds transfers and checks for online wagering. The Treasury Department and Federal Reserve set a Dec. 1, 2009, deadline.

Two days ago the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., urged the White House to not go forward with the ban, arguing that should be left to President-elect Barack Obama.

"This midnight rulemaking will tie the hands of the new administration, burden the financial services industry at a time of economic crisis, and contradict the stated intent of the Financial Services Committee," Frank said.

By not defining illegal Internet gambling, the law is "leaving it to each financial institution to reconcile conflicting state and federal laws, court decisions and inconsistent Department of Justice interpretations when determining whether to process a transaction."

The NFL lobbied for the ban. Naturally, the Net gambling industry and Las Vegas were against it.