BILLIONS WOULD BE GENERATED IN U.S. TAX DOLLARS, BUT CRITICS SAY IT CANNOT BE REGULATED AND CAN CORRUPT YOUTH - "60 MINUTES" SUNDAY

So many Americans use their computers to gamble on overseas websites that if those virtual casinos were to be regulated and taxed by American authorities, tax revenues would be in the billions of dollars. But the federal government says Internet gambling is 100 percent illegal, and people who want to keep it that way believe that the sites - legal in more and more foreign countries - can never really be effectively regulated. What’s more, they say, those sites can and do corrupt children and create more addicted gamblers. Lesley Stahl examines this contentious issue in a 60 MINUTES report to be broadcast Sunday, Nov. 20 (7:00-8:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.

In Britain, where many online gambling firms are based, a gaming executive says America’s treasury is missing out. "We calculated that were America to have regulated the industry in 2004, the American states would have earned $1.2 billion in tax," says Nigel Payne, who runs the London-based Sportingbet, one of the biggest online gaming companies. Payne says he would be glad to pay an American tax in return for regulation of his industry, which he believes would eliminate some of the less-than-reputable sites he competes with. Payne estimates that 12.5 million Americans gamble on the Internet. Bets placed from the U.S. comprise as much as 80 percent of global online gambling, and contribute most of the $10 billion in profit the overseas "I-gaming" industry will make this year.

Despite a long-standing federal ban, more Americans gamble more money on the Internet each year. U.S. authorities have never prosecuted individual bettors and don’t plan to start. Website operators are beyond the reach of U.S. law because they’re all based overseas, so they operate with impunity...even spending millions to advertise here.

The U.S.’s own domestic gambling industry, ...

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