Internet gambling restrictions attached to port bill
House and Senate negotiators reached agreement last night on legislation to tighten maritime and port security regulations and, in a last-minute move, added an unrelated measure that seeks to ban Internet gambling.
At the same time, House negotiators prevailed in their fight to strip out $4.5 billion in rail and mass-transit security funds included in the Senate provision.
The port security and Internet gambling legislation was approved 409 to 2 in the House and on a voice vote in the Sena ...
Sep 30, 2006, 10:23 am - Lottery News forum
Defense Bill Dispute May Stall Internet Gambling Proposal
A dispute among Republican leaders may delay the fate of a proposed Internet gambling ban until after the Nov. 7 elections, congressional and lobbying sources said Tuesday.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., and House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., are pushing hard to include an online wagering ban and a slew of other bills in defense legislation.
But in a letter to Frist on Monday, Sen. John Warner, R-Va., the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he firmly op ...
Sep 28, 2006, 12:41 pm - Lottery News forum
Online gambling bill stuck, but it's not over yet
Efforts to win congressional passage of a bill to ban most forms of Internet gambling by tacking it onto a must-pass bill hit a roadblock Tuesday, but aides said Republican backers are exploring other ways to make it law.
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner, a Virginia Republican, raised a strong objection to attaching any unrelated legislation to a pending defense bill, which has been viewed by supporters of the gambling bill as a prime vehicle for it.
I have firmly o ...
Sep 27, 2006, 12:54 pm - Lottery News forum
Costa Rica not caving to U.S. gambling arrests
Costa Rica finds itself in the middle of the fight between U.S. authorities and the online gambling industry.
Think of Costa Rica and flashes of colorful birds, bright beaches and long hikes through the rain forest come to mind.
But several recent arrests and indictments have thrust the country into the spotlight for another, less savory reason: its cozy relationship with the online gambling industry. The industry is under fire from U.S. authorities, helping create the notion that this sma ...
Sep 25, 2006, 2:27 pm - Lottery News forum
Another Gamble for Online Betting
Legal wrangling in the U.S. is clouding the prospects for the industry world-wide
Two recent arrests of online-gambling executives in the U.S. are drawing attention to a spirited but so far unsuccessful effort in Washington to clarify the legal status of Internet gambling and resolve the political and legal issues of regulating it.
Earlier this month, Peter Dicks, at the time nonexecutive chairman of Sportingbet PLC, Britain's largest publicly traded Internet-gambling company, was arrested ...
Sep 22, 2006, 7:51 am - Lottery News forum
By hook or by crook: lawmakers relentless on taking away online rights
Congressional leaders are trying to forge a compromise that would allow them to push through legislation banning most forms of Internet gambling, aides said on Thursday.
Top House and Senate lawmakers have been trying to break a logjam that has stalled the Internet gambling legislation by attaching it to any one of a number of must-pass spending bills before the end of the year, aides said. However, they have yet to agree on a final deal.
I'm confident that (Senate Majority Leader Bill) F ...
Sep 22, 2006, 7:06 am - Lottery News forum
N.Y. Comptroller writes scathing letter to lottery board
New York's top fiscal officer is warning a state agency that its delay in approving a VLT casino contract for Aqueduct racetrack is costing the state needed revenues and risking bankruptcy for the New York Racing Association.
State Comptroller Alan Hevesi, in a scathing letter to the state Division of Lottery, strongly suggested that with a battle underway to craft a new Thoroughbred racetrack franchise in New York more is driving the VLT delay than normal bureaucratic reviews.
It is ...
Sep 18, 2006, 10:45 pm - Lottery News forum
Online gambling executive arrested on state charges
Gambling industry experts agree: If you operate an offshore gaming Web site, stay out of the U.S.
Moments after stepping foot on American soil Thursday, Sportingbet PLC Chairman Peter Dicks became the second British offshore sports betting executive arrested in recent months for illegal online gambling in the U.S. Former BetOnSports PLC Chief Executive Officer David Carruthers was arrested on federal charges in July.
It's still unclear if the arrest is a coincidence or part of a government ...
Sep 8, 2006, 5:47 pm - Lottery News forum
Online gambling company says it will lock out U.S. bettors
fBETonSPORTS, the online gambling company targeted by federal prosecutors in Missouri and Washington, is shuttering the majority of its billion-dollar operations and will no longer accept bets from the United States, a company spokesman said Thursday evening.
The move was seen as a significant victory for prosecutors targeting online gambling and as somewhat of a surprise. Industry experts and even a company insider had predicted that BetOn Sports would simply ignore the federal criminal pros ...
Aug 11, 2006, 11:27 am - Lottery News forum
BETonSPORTS Shutting U.S. Gambling Sites
BetOnSports PLC, the British-based Internet gambling company that has been charged with fraud and racketeering in the United States, said Friday it will shut down its services for American gamblers.
BETonSPORTS said it plans to stop operating in Costa Rica and Antigua from where it accepted wagers from tens of thousands of customers in the United States as soon as possible following a U.S. federal court order for the company to stop taking bets from the country.
Shares in the company were ...
Aug 11, 2006, 11:11 am - Lottery News forum
