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hum….
i hope they never can beat the internet…..
When they reintroduce his Internet Gambling Prohibition Act on Thursday
do they also vote on Thursday?
Do it become law just after, if they vote for the Internet Gambling Prohibition Act?Can anybody help exsplain how it works and how long time it takes to become law?
Abramoff’s total disregard for the legislative process has allowed Internet gambling to continue thriving and it’s now a $12 billion industry.
How exactly did one person cause an industry to grow to $12 billion. That’s a ludicrous assertion. It’s even more concerning that the reason this might pass isn’t because of the merit of the bill, but rather the backlash agains Abramoff. Gotta love politics.
Goodlatte’s allegations of missinformation is synonomous of the kettle calling the pot black!
That message reads a bit like this…
Corrupt casinos are tricking you into debt, making you leave your family, launder some money for terrorists and shoot a few people along the way. And you know what, you’re going to do it because thats how online gaming makes you feel!!!
The fact remains that they are taking away the individuals right to make a decision as to whether or not they want to gamble online.
(Whilst losing billions of dollars in tax revenue along the way – doh!)
Does anyone know if the senators involved in bills for making online gambling illegal own or have shares in land casinos or some other form of legal gambling?
I know it’s a silly question – there’s got to be a reason why those idiots are so determined even though they’re misinformed. They can’t possibly have anything upon which to base their allegations….so….what’s in it for them?
Sounds cynical and I’m not an American citizen even though I live in the US but it appears that this is how politics goes. There’s got to be a motive somewhere because I can’t believe that they really think there are enough minors gambling online to justify all this hoorah. Laundering money isn’t feasible simply because of the amounts that would have to be involved to make it worthwhile. Addiction is another story and I know we’re all a bit worried about that.
Cutting off their nose to spite their face – look at the revenue they’re losing – it’s got to be tempting.
Maybe only because it’s fashionable to be against online gambling politically and they’re looking for feathers in their caps.
Sometimes I wonder…
ntaus
webber286 wrote:How exactly did one person cause an industry to grow to $12 billion. That’s a ludicrous assertion. It’s even more concerning that the reason this might pass isn’t because of the merit of the bill, but rather the backlash agains Abramoff. Gotta love politics.lol. If only we could harness the superpowers of Abramoff and use them for some sort of charitable cause… :1Dopey:
Goodlatte and the rest of the zealous congressmen attacking online gaming are hypocrites of the highest sort. Goodlatte represents the state of virginia which has had it’s own lottery since 1988. Look here to see the sales and earnings his state has gathered from it http://www.valottery.com/money/ .
Those of you not familiar with US lotteries need to understand that the majority of the people buying lottery tickets are the lowest income levels, many on food stamps and the ones with the least amount of disposable income and the lowest education.
Compare that to online gambling where the player has to have a level of income to own a computer, have internet capabilities and the knowledge to do both. In addition the means to fund an internet wallet is no easy thing, not as easy as pulling out a dollar or ten to buy a lottery ticket rather than buying decent food for your family.
The sad part of this is, because of the fanatics, and there are only a handful, they push this onto a busy congressional agenda every year. Many of the congressmen and woman simply go along with it because it is politically easier to say I am against online gambling and all the evils that come with it rather than stand up and say, this is what the people want. I am worried that because of the mess left over by Jack Abramoff making our industry look bad and having a knee jerk reaction to punish the gaming industry. Lets hope not.
Brian
Entirely my thoughts. I have nothing to add to that.
so, what can we do ?
Im worried now…
The IGC (Internet Gaming Council) http://www.igcouncil.org/ has been at the forefront in fighting this negative legislation and has done an extremely good job the last 8-9 years. They have employed several strong lobbiest to represent our needs in Washington DC. Over the years they have spent hundreds of thousand if not millions educating Congress and stopping them from passing legislation making online gaming or promoting illegal.
This group is formed mostly of casino operators, software providers and other companies dedicated to our industry. Over the years we have had grassroot operations where casino operators would urge there players to right the congressmen to protect their internet rights and set up form letters making it easy for the constituits to make their needs heard. This has really helped when the vote is coming up regarding online gaming.
I recommend keeping you eye on the IGC site and possible making a donation, as time gets close to a vote we should all post on our site informing our players that there rights are about to be taken away if they do not act. This has worked in the past and I hope the IGC will again provide us with what we need to put up on our sites.
Brian
Good answer, Brian. :clapper:
To add to this, I contacted River City Group (one of the most aggressive, respected and knowledgeable entities in i-gaming, in these matters), for their input.
River City Group is advocating that anyone who is serious about voicing their views should start at: http://www.pokerplayersalliance.org/. They have a system for communicating with elected officials. You can find it at: http://www.pokerplayersalliance.org/defending.html
Please don’t assume this is only for poker–this will also be effective towards all online gambling.
ntaus8 wrote:Does anyone know if the senators involved in bills for making online gambling illegal own or have shares in land casinos or some other form of legal gambling?If the senators owned shares in the big casino groups, they would be moving to legalize online gambling. Harrahs, MGM and others are begging to be allowed into online gambling. I think one of their representatives made the claim that their business would more than double if they were allowed to compete online.
No, the senators aren’t looking at their personal pocket books on this one. They are looking at their Christian conservative base and trying to appease them with some sort of win that supports their agenda before the upcoming elections. This is one of those issues that’s hard to take a hit on politically since they will claim the moral high ground on protecting our citizens.
Take a look at the letters of support for this legislation on the bottom of this page:
http://www.house.gov/goodlatte/internetgambling109.htmWant to talk about hypocrisy? In the text of this bill he blames Abramoff for derailing his legislation last time. One of Abramoff’s partner in crime dealing with Indians is Ralph Reed, the former head of the Christian Coalition.
Frankly, I think our ace in the hole this time is the stock market. Through all of the big New York investment firms, there are more Americans who are essentially online gambling operators by owning stock in SportingBet, PartyPoker, etc.. The stocks took a hit the day this legislation was announced. This bill is DOA. Just follow the money.
