Though it should help some people avoid becoming easily enticed by gambling sites, Arnie Wexler, the founder of the national gambling addiction hotline 888-LASTBET, says many online gamblers stopped using credit card companies for their transactions years ago, after several companies voluntarily stopped processing gambling transactions. “It is putting a Band-Aid on a cancer,” added Wexler.

U.S. casinos are also hoping their online ambitions won’t be dampened by the bill. Some foreign governments have already accused the U.S. of having protectionist motivations, rather than prohibitionist ones. The American Gaming Association says the organization does not believe the act eliminates the possibility for U.S.-based casinos to open online sites regulated by states or the federal government, in the future. “This bill did not make anything legal or illegal,” says Fahrenkopf. “What it did was affect the mechanism by which Internet gambling takes place…and there is some question as to whether or not that will be effective.” says Frank Fahrenkopf CEO of AGA.

Nigel Payne, chief executive of Sportingbet, called the US clampdown on online gaming “over protectionism.” His comments follow the plunge in internet gambling stocks on Monday following the passage of the bill in the US Senate last Friday. Mr Payne said that due to technology and the number of small players, the industry was too vast to police. There were many ways for companies to get around the legislation, he said, adding that “banks around the world do not take the same view as US banks do of the industry, or American legislature.”

Mr Garber said he expected PartyGaming to be involved in buying up companies likely to suffer heavily from the impact of the new US legislation. “We are very focused on mergers and acquisitions. I see our liquidity as being very attractive to smaller players who may not be able to survive on their own.” He added: “I wouldn’t be surprised if they [MGM and Harrah’s] didn’t have an interest in winning non US-facing companies as a means of tipping their toes in the internet world.”

Congressman Bob Goodlatte concedes that the final version is not the blow to online gaming he had hoped for It is not everything the House passed earlier this year, but it does include the enforcement prohibition to cut off funds going to the illegal online sites,” says Goodlatte. He adds that the bill should prevent some of the annual $6 billion in online bets made by U.S. residents from “getting sucked out of our economy.” So then where will this money go?