Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Frank, D-Mass., who chairs the House Financial Services Committee, told
reporters that the online gambling bill passed last fall was "one of the
stupidest things I ever saw." "I want to get it undone. I plan to file
legislation," Barney said, explaining that he would lay out his plans in the
next couple of weeks but would not move them forward until other lawmakers
are on board. "I think a reconsideration among my colleagues is beginning,"
he said. "It's not far enough along yet so I wouldn't move the bill but I
plan to introduce the bill and if (the) storm of public unhappiness is great
enough, I will try to substantially revise that ban." The U.S. Congress
House Financial Services Committee alone could not do more than lift a ban
on using credit cards to pay for Internet gambling, he said. "The first
thing is to plant the banner out there and see how many people rally around
it," he said. The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, passed last
October, took British-based Internet gambling businesses by surprise,
causing companies such as Sportingbet PLC and Leisure & Gaming PLC to sell
their U.S. operations. The law prevents U.S. banks and credit-card companies
from processing payments to online gambling businesses outside the United
States. A World Trade organisation panel ruled on another set of gambling
restrictions on March 30, saying Washington had failed to change legislation
that unfairly targets offshore casinos. It sided with Antigua and Barbuda, a
former British colony in the Caribbean, that has promoted electronic
commerce as a way to end the country's reliance on tourism, which was hurt
by a series of hurricanes in the late 1990s. The Geneva-based trade referee
has said Washington can maintain restrictions on online gambling as long as
its laws are equally applied to American operators offering remote betting
on horse racing. Frank also said he welcomed German Chancellor Angela
Merkel's move to boost trans-Atlantic trading ties and increase global
supervision for hedge funds.
Better coordination between EU and U.S. regulators would give multinational
corporations less leeway to play one off against the other, he said,
mentioning taxation and climate change as policy areas where companies
threaten to relocate to avoid stricter laws. "The response you often get is:
'If you do this, we will leave.' The mobility of capital gives them both in
real terms and politically a great weapon," he said. "If you could get some
kind of policy coordination on a trans-Atlantic basis; if you could diminish
that threat ... you are talking about a pretty big chunk of the world, and
that's a place to start."