WASHINGTON — All bets are off for gambling on the Internet, including popular online poker: President Bush on Friday signed a bill that intends to block the financial transactions that make such gaming possible.

The SAFE Port Act signed by the president includes a provision that changes the Wire Act of 1961, which bars gambling that uses wire communications, to include the Internet. The measure prohibits banks and credit card companies from processing Web-related gambling transactions — wagers — based in the United States.

Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah, worked to include a technical change in the law that would protect the overall ban on gambling imposed by Utah and Hawaii. Other states have lotteries or allow gambling in various forms.

"By signing this bill into law, President Bush helped secure our ports and struck a decisive blow to Internet gambling," Cannon said in a statement.

"Gambling is a vice, and Internet gambling is especially insidious. Internet gambling sites lack the necessary tools to protect children and can cross state borders with the click of a mouse."

At the signing ceremony, Bush spoke only about sections of the SAFE Port Act that tighten security and close a loophole in anti-terror defenses, especially at ports.

"Our seaports are a gateway to commerce, a source of opportunity, and a provider of jobs," Bush said. "Our ports could also be a target of a terrorist attack, and we're determined to protect them. ...

"This bill makes clear that the federal government has the authority to clear waterways, identify cleanup equipment and re-establish the flow of commerce following a terrorist attack," the president said.

Still, the gaming section of the bill may put some teeth into laws that forbid most online gambling, an industry that rakes in an estimated $12 billion each year. Several Internet gambling companies' U.S. operations have already suspended operations.

However, to avoid U.S. law, most of the 2,000-plus Web sites devoted to gambling are based outside the United States, often in Europe, Central America and the Caribbean, and enforcement of laws banning participation by Americans has been difficult.

In anticipation of the president's signature, Chad Hills, a gambling research analyst for Focus on the Family, a conservative group, applauded the measure, saying the laws in place had been flouted for too long. Online gambling operations, he said, "were making a mockery of our U.S. policy, they were making a mockery of our Congress, they were making a mockery of our ability to enforce this legislation."

But gamblers aren't buying in on the idea. On the gambling Web site Cardplayer.com, poker professional Thor Hansen called the passage "a bad day for poker" and Shannon Shorr, a professional poker player, called the measure "both frustrating and devastating."

Michael Bolcerek, president of Poker Players Alliance, said outlawing online gambling will just push it underground rather than eliminate it. Leading the charge against the legislation, the Poker Players Alliance has begun to focus its efforts on securing legal exemptions for online poker.

Poker, some players argue, is a skill sport and should be afforded an exemption from gambling bans, like those currently given to fantasy sports, horse racing and state lotteries.

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Contributing: Associated Press

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