If a story appearing today in the Financial Times is accurate, thepresidential signing into law of the Unlawful Internet Gambling EnforcementAct is likely to be a slam-dunk. The respected publication carried a storyquoting unidentified lobbyists who summarised the events leading up to thepresentation of the Goodlatte Bill, including the exploitation of the JackAbramoff lobbying scandal […]
When Congressman Bob Goodlatte introduced his anti-gaming legislation inFebruary, he sent a letter to his Republican colleagues in the House ofRepresentatives with a stark message: This is the bill Jack Abramoff doesnot want you to sign. Mr Goodlatte’s invocation of Mr Abramoff, the oncepowerful Republican lobbyist who was engulfed at the time in a wide-ranginglobbying […]
In the high-stakes poker game of politics, online gambling lobbyists lost amonster hand late last month after Congress passed legislation prohibitingfinancial institutions from making payments to online gambling sites. Thelong-standing issue came to a head after presidential hopeful SenateMajority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., became the torchbearer for conservativegroups lobbying to ban Internet gambling. Despite repeated […]
Cincinnati and Columbus are on opposite sides when it comes to a ballotinitiative that would permit gambling in Ohio. Elected officials andbusiness leaders in Cincinnati said Monday they support a ballot initiativeto permit gambling in Ohio, a sharp contrast to the Columbus Chamber andColumbus Partnership’s opposition of Issue 3. If voters approve theamendment, it would […]
Three more online gaming companies said today they are suspending operationsin the US after the Senate passed legislation outlawing gambling on theinternet.Fairground Gaming said it would stop taking bets from customers in the US assoon as President Bush signs the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Actinto law. He is expected to do so this week. Fairground, […]
Two online gambling firms have announced that they are suspending theiroperations in the US ahead of the imminent implementation of new lawsrestricting internet gaming. In separate statements released this morning,Fairground Gaming and Fireone said that they would immediately cease tradingin the US once the unlawful internet gambling enforcement act had beenratified. The legislation, due to […]
San Jose City Councilman and mayoral candidate Chuck Reed Monday called onopponent Vice Mayor Cindy Chavez to refuse $55,000 in campaign donationsfrom Indian gambling interests. Flanked by former Mayor Tom McEnery andDeputy District Attorney David Pandori, Reed said he was “sounding the alarmto warn of a threat to San Jose’s quality of life. Gambling money […]
France, Italy and Austria will this week be formally censured by theEuropean Commission for restrictive laws on gambling, the latest move in thefierce global battle between governments and private sports betting andgambling companies. The intervention will come as a rare glimmer of hope foran industry seriously damaged by a series of regulatory blows, and from […]
It’s an election year and already one of the biggest issues that has manyvoters’ attention isn’t the scandal of Mark Foley and the congressional pagewho he instant messaged for a year and a half, but it is a bill in which thegovernment is prepared to crack down on online gambling. But is this billgoing to […]
A former state representative has been arrested on a felony charge ofoperating an illegal gambling house. Sixty-six-year-old Travis Dowd, whoowns the Lucky Penny Arcade, was reportedly out of town when the arcade wasraided Thursday and a warrant issued for his arrest. Dowd turned himself inSunday, accompanied by his lawyer. Dowd posted a $20 thousand bond […]
The US Congress has passed tough new federal restrictions on onlinegambling, including measures that prohibit US gamblers from using creditcards, cheques and electronic fund transfers to settle online wagers. Themove came just hours after Peter Dicks, former chairman of Sportingbet, theBritish internet bookmaker, was freed by a New York court, signalling defeatfor Louisiana’s attempt to […]
Ministers want to make Britain the world centre of internet gambling,documents released by Whitehall showed today. The records showed thatministers and officials have met internet gambling tycoons and theirrepresentatives no less than 26 times over the past two years. The detailssuggest that the Government is engaged in a campaign of cosying up to onlinegambling concerns […]
The first firings in the Israeli online gambling industry have started, asIM Intermedia dismissed half of its 100 workers yesterday. The firm suppliesservices for online marketing and data mining for online gaming companies inthe United States, and its customers include Intercontinental Online. Thecompany confirmed the report. Yesterday’s cutbacks are just the first ofmany expected in […]
The dice are rolling hot on the tables of what was once a sleepy Portuguesecolony. With millions of mainland Chinese high rollers arriving every year,developers in Macau are racing to turn the former enclave into Asia’sglittering gambling capital. The stakes are high. At the baccarat table ofone casino, a middle-aged Chinese woman shrugs off the […]