August 18, 2009 (CAP Newswire) — It makes sense, but it’s still a bit surprising to hear that, since September of last year, ten British companies have spent millions of dollars lobbying U.S. politicians to legalize and regulate online gambling within American borders.
According to an article in the U.K. news source The Telegraph, companies like UC Group (an Internet payment services group), Sportingbet, PartyGaming, British Airways, and Virgin Atlantic have each spent millions of dollars “to influence gambling legislation in the US.”
Combined with the U.S. government’s willingness to prosecute off-shore companies for courting American bettors (as seen in recent high-profile legal actions against BetOnSports and PartyGaming), this news is yet more proof that backwards-thinking U.S. laws targeting the online gambling industry have a profound effect all over the world — legally as well as financially.