Never mind U.S. congressional disapproval: The Guardian reports that online poker outfit PartyGaming is looking to raise $922 million to buy sundry sports betting sites. Nor is PartyGaming anywhere near alone among online casinos pursuing diversification in an uncertain market.

Early favorites for acquisition by PartyGaming include favorite Gamebookers and long shot Unibet. If the name PartyGaming rings a bell, it may be because the company is dropping a cool $37 million on advertising during Harrah’s World Series of Poker.

That ploy is hardly likely to endear PartyGaming to staunch Net-bet opponents like Sen. Jon Kyl or Rep. Bob Goodlatte, whose name always causes us a sudden and irrational craving for fine coffee. And with a betting scandal at august Wimbledon recently making waves, the timing of PartyGaming’s big push is not entirely auspicious.

Meanwhile, one Scottish politico is proposing a cap on Net bets. PartyGaming, not unpredictably, has already announced its opposition. But if the BBC is correct that the average British Net bettor owes the equivalent of $46,000 in gambling debts, I’d say John of Gaunt’s “scepter’d isle” has a problem on its hands.