SOURCE: Las Vegas Sun

(Las Vegas, Nevada) — As gambling profits spur an unprecedented multibillion-dollar building boom on the Strip, untold ranks of professional poker players, sports bettors and recreational gamblers continue to pour money into a shadow industry based offshore but with a de facto home in Las Vegas.

And while a seemingly endless debate rages on in Congress over whether to legalize Internet gambling nationwide, some gaming interests are pursuing a different tack by appealing to Nevada regulators with the power to allow and oversee online betting for Nevada residents within the state's borders. Federal law allows such online gambling.

As a step in that direction, UNLV's International Gaming Institute is trying to quantify how many Nevadans gamble online and measure gamblers' attitudes toward legalizing Internet gambling.

The study, commissioned by the state Gaming Control Board and expected to be released within weeks, is intended to inform Nevada legislators about the pros and cons of regulating online gambling.

"This will be valuable information for policymakers," Gaming Control Board Chairman Dennis Neilander said.

While regulators already have the authority to adopt rules governing in-state online gambling, they aren't entirely comfortable taking that step just yet and want the Legislature to revisit the issue before moving forward.

The Justice Department maintains that all forms of Internet gambling are illegal based on a decades-old law known as the Wire Act. The casino industry has argued that the law, designed to combat mob bookmaking operations in the 1960s, prohibits only online sports betting. The Justice Department sent the Gaming Control Board an opinion letter clarifying that position in 2002.

The Nevada Legislature in 2003 allowed regulators to study whether Internet gambling could be regulated. The Gaming Control Board has since learned of developing technology to pinpoint the location and identity of gamblers using satellite signals, conduct online background checks and maintain account information.

But regulators, wary of the federal government's position, haven't pursued the notion of approving online gambling in Nevada.

Online gambling companies and technology companies that make gambling software are pressing the state to reconsider.