In June and July 2006, Paul voted "no" against the Internet Gambling Bill and Online Gambling Ban Amendment. The first billed sought to ban all forms of non-regulated online gambling, the second sought to amend the ban to all forms of online gambling.
The first bills passing marks the point where online gambling that was not regulated by the government, for example, certain types of animal racing, was banned. The bill affected mostly online casinos, who's revenue was no doubt cutting into the brick-and-mortar casinos' revenue, who in turn pay much in the way of tax money to the government, whereas online casino revenue was more difficult to tax.
The government got to kill three birds with one stone here. First, they got to "Protect people online from the 'evils' of gambling." Second and third, they were able to effectively protect the state run gambling sites and their tax revenue stream from traditional casinos.
For what it's worth, someone caught gambling in America, in non-brick-and-mortar, non state run, non-regulated online casinos will face up to five years in prison, all for your protection.
