The Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve continue to finalize a new rule that would put the onus on banks to help crack down on online gambling by US citizens, a Treasury official said Wednesday. In prepared remarks, Deputy Assistant Secretary Valerie Abend said banking regulators are focusing their efforts on banks that do business with gambling companies, as well as the interaction between US banks and foreign banks that may be tied to online gambling.

A gambling industry group argued in federal court Wednesday that a new federal law against transmitting online bets outside the United States violates people's right to gamble in the privacy of their own homes. The group's lawyers said that, because filtering technology already exists to make sure children and compulsive gamblers cannot access offshore betting sites, the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act serves only to stifle gambling companies.

Last week, the Supreme Federal Court (STF) unanimously declared unconstitutional the decree that rules the bingo operation by Río de Janeiro lottery (Loterj). The decree also defined the profile of lottery agents, their registration, the criteria for the tender process and eventual penalties for the infringement of the rules. The action was proposed in August 2003, by the former General Attorney of the nation, Claudio Fonteles, who challenged the state decree considering that it would be using the competence which belongs exclusively of the Union to legislate the draw system.