The Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve announced today that regulations designed to ban Internet gambling are being delayed by six months, giving U.S. financial institutions additional time to comply.The two agencies said the new rules, which were to take effect on Dec. 1, would be delayed until June 1.But it remains in question whether the rules will ever go into force. In their joint notice, Treasury and the Federal Reserve said several lawmakers had sought a delay, arguing there was considerable support for new legislation to clarify the current laws.

House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank, a leading opponent of the ban on online gambling, praised the action and said it would give the House and Senate time to overturn a law passed in 2006, when Republicans controlled Congress. His committee has scheduled a hearing on Internet gambling regulation for Thursday.Frank is sponsoring legislation that would roll back the 2006 law that bans financial institutions from handling transactions made to and from Internet gambling sites. "This will give us a chance to act in an unhurried manner on my legislation to undo this regulatory excess by the Bush administration and to undo this ill-advised law," Frank said in a statement.

The rules being delayed would curb online gambling by prohibiting financial institutions from accepting payments from credit cards, checks or electronic fund transfers to settle online wagers. The financial industry complained the new rules would be difficult to enforce because they did not offer a clear definition of what constitutes Internet gambling. The industry had sought a 12-month delay in implementing provisions of the 2006 law, known as the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. The Bush administration issued regulations to enforce the law in November 2008 and had set Dec. 1, 2009, as the date financial institutions would have to begin complying.