Professional baseball has rules to ban gambling not because it is illegal per se, but because it damages the MLB brand.

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They include a complete ban on wagering on college and amateur sports, a ban on Internet gambling and a ban on credit-card cash-advance machines in gambling parlours.

ECONOMIST: Gambling on the future

Frank Fahrenkopf, president of the American Gaming Association, says it proposes no blanket federal approach to gambling: the commission concludes that gambling is by and large a state and tribal issue (with the exception of the proposed federal ban on Internet gambling).

ECONOMIST: Gambling on the future

Indeed, the Supreme Court recently overturned a federal ban on commercial gambling advertising on radio and television.

ECONOMIST: Gambling on the future

In Germany, where a ban on online gambling came into force last year, the state of North Rhine-Westphalia has ordered Betfair, a British firm (see article), to block access to its residents.

ECONOMIST: Online gambling in Europe

That the European Commission is defending European firms' right to offer online gambling, even as some countries try to ban it, raises difficult questions about individual states' ability to override the single market in sensitive areas.

ECONOMIST: Online gambling in Europe