mr. eggert. if my goal is to limit the amount of problem gambling, to limit the amount of the number of adolescents who enter into a lifestyle that's destructive, and allow people like mr. barton to pursue his past time, do you think this legislation is a positive in terms of pursuing that goal or a negative? >> well, first of all, i'm not a problem gamblers expert. i'm a consumer protection exert. there's good things about internet gambling where you put in harm minimizing strategies. i don't think there's a good study out there that shows whether there's a net benefit. >> do you feel the legislation is a negative or positive for consumer protection? >> i have not seen legislation yet that has what i consider strong consumer protectionment i think if we had legislation with strong consumer protection, that could be a net positive. >> and then the fact of legalization which some folks suggest allow it to be increased consumer protection. you or not convinced of? some folks say legalize and then co

mr. eggert first to mr. eggert if i did say that my goal is to limit the amount problem gambling to limit the number of adolescents to enter into the lifestyle which is destructive but to allow people like mr. bork that you will to pursue his tough time do you think that this legislation is a positive in terms of pursuing that goal or do you think it is ? >> i consumer protection expert. i think that there are good things about internet gambling where you can put harmonization strategies i don't think that there's a good study out there that shows there's a net benefit to this chemical about consumer protection committee to the legislation is a negative or positive for the consumer protection? >> i haven't seen any legislation yet that has like consider strong consumer protection i think if we had legislation with strong consumer protection that could be a net positive. >> would they allow it to be increased consumer protection you are not convinced of. some folks in hearing said just legalize and the legaliz

mr. eggert you are recognized. >> thank you, madam chairwoman, ranking member butterfield, and others. come at this from a different angle than most. i come from a consumer protection angle where i've worked most of my career. i was an add provider to the -- adviser to the federal reserve board on issues on the consumer board, and you can imagine the fun over the years, and when i think about gambling, the question i have is what consumer protections should be in place? i'm very happy to hear many of you talk about the importance of consumer protection in gaming gambling because it's a crucial issue. gamblers used to be looked down on, but now they are consumers and it's just another industry, and we should treat them like consumers as we do in other industries and think about what consumer protection is important in this industry. the perk of consumer protection is to make consumers good shoppers, to give them the tools they need to make smart decisions when they purchase, when they go to a cay casino, when they gamble on loin, whatever they do, we want to make them good shoppers and