Four years ago the federal government banned online casinos, but with revenues so tight and the stakes so high, some national leaders are betting on Internet gambling for new tax dollars.

"It's not going to happen in this calendar year," said Sue Schnieder of eGamingBrokerage.com and one of the leading experts on online casinos in the country. She's been watching developments in the online casino industry since 1985 and said it's a crap shoot when the United States will join about 100 governments around the world that permit, regulate and tax online gambling.

Anything could happen in the lame duck session after the Nov. 2 election -- even the legalization of online casinos, Schnieder said. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., has introduced the Internet Gambling Regulation Consumer Protection & Enforcement Act to regulate Internet gambling. A companion bill would give the Internal Revenue Service the authority to tax the casino license holders and the winnings of online gamblers, which could bring $42 billion in revenue in the first 10 years.

Schnieder said the current legislation would provide revenue sharing with the states and an opt-in period during which each state would decide whether to permit online gambling.

Larry Gregory, executive director of the Mississippi Gaming Commission, said there are already social concerns in the state with traditional casinos. He said Internet casinos have a long way to go before they would be approved in Mississippi.

"Internet gambling is abstract," he said. "It's so complex of an issue." Where the Mississippi casinos provide 28,000 jobs, he said, an Internet site could be run by perhaps a staff of five. Then there are problems with identity theft, and underage and compulsive gambling.

He said there has been a change in the attitude of casino operators over the last decade. Eight to 10 years ago the established casinos were against online gambling and now he said there seems to be more in the industry who are in favor of Internet casinos than oppose them.

Nevada. California and Florida are among the states considering Internet gambling within their borders and Schnieder said, "I think you will see it in some of the states." She said poker is the game that has the most interest in states that have a large enough population to support a game that residents play against each other online. She doesn't know if states could go together, as they do with the Powerball lottery, to create bigger jackpots.

In the prohibition versus regulation debate, Schnieder said it's no longer whether casinos can operate online and protect players' money.

"It is being done," she said. In Europe, people are more comfortable with direct transfers out of their bank accounts, she said, while other countries use major credit cards or third-party systems such as PayPal.

Gregory said there are currently two forms of online gambling: legal international Internet sites that don't allow customers from the United States and illegal sites, which he said are stealing millions of dollars from people. "They're just back room operations," he said.

MGM Resorts International and Harrah's Entertainment are two established casino operators embracing Internet gambling in the U.S.

Schnieder said both companies tried online gambling before, but in overseas markets where they didn't enjoy the name recognition they have in the United States. She said they would already have the trust of their regular players.

Others who she said may be interested in online gambling are the Mississippi Band of Choctaws, who would have more leniency in establishing online casinos, and Penn National Gaming, parent company of Boomtown Biloxi and Hollywood Casino Bay St. Louis, which has a reputation for being entrepreneurial.

"I think they all are looking at it," she said.