By hook or by crook: lawmakers relentless on taking away online rights

Sep 22, 2006, 7:06 am (4 comments)

Online Gambling

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) Frist is intent on trying to make something happen. They are working hard," one aide said.

According to two sources familiar with the matter, one possible compromise would focus on a version of a bill already passed by the House, with some provisions opposed by the U.S. horse racing industry removed.

The bill would prohibit most forms of Internet gambling and make it illegal for banks and credit card companies to make payments to online gambling sites.

One lobbyist said backers considered trying to attach it to a defense spending bill, but a number of aides said they did not believe it would be possible.

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner, a Virginia Republican, has a reputation for not allowing non-germane measures to be attached to defense legislation.

Lawmakers are scheduled to recess at the end of next week so they can campaign for the November elections. They are expected to return afterward to wrap up unfinished business.

Efforts to move the House bill in the Senate ran into opposition earlier in the summer from lobbyists representing casino owners and horse- and dog-racing interests.

Investors in British-based gaming companies such as BETonSPORTS Plc, Partygaming Plc and 888 Holdings Plc are closely watching the U.S. legislation.

The Republican-backed measure has been criticized by some as an election-year appeal to the party's conservative base.

Frist, of Tennessee, is widely seen as a potential presidential candidate.

Supporters of a crackdown on Internet gambling say legislation is needed to clarify that a 1961 federal law banning interstate telephone betting also covers an array of online gambling.

Reuters

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silky's avatarsilky

Here is your chance to VOTE  them out. If you do Not vote , you have no right to complan, I love that you now have to show an ID to vote this year , I guess the dead people can't vote any longer , it goes to show how crooked our voting has been, now with showing an ID first to vote they can't lie. I know my grand father pass away in the year 2000 but some how it shows he voted, it made me hmmm about voting. and yes I did take a stand about him being gone and voting. I know it was set up so that someone can win , that shouldn't have, but now you have to prove it is you , So I hope each and everyone stands up to be heard,,,,, Please use you right to be heard . VOTE !!! I know I'm sick of our Gov telling me what is good for me . Look at what they have done in the pass . not the party they stand for, really take a look at each one then vote with your brain Once again it's your right to VOTE.take a stand and be heard. It will be a fair vote this time. showing prove should have always of been the right honest way. Thank you for reading . Embarassed

EXCALIBUR

We need new people in the government vote out all the ones that are there right now, except for a very few that are pro-Internet-gambling, for all the rest that are against Internet gambling or that are not doing anything in favor of Internet gambling don't ever vote for them again, vote for anybody else instead.

As it was said: "If you are not with me, you are against me"

If they are not doing anything to promote internet gambling then they all are against it. So don't ever vote for them again, we new new people in the government, vote all the old ones out.

LOTTOMIKE's avatarLOTTOMIKE

As NROG reported earlier this week Sen Bill Frist is actively seeking to attach his online gambling ban to a new piece of legislation. NROG has been entrenched in D.C for the last several days and after a very late night last night and a rough morning we learned that his sights are back on the DoD bill. This after a clear outright refusal last week by Sen. Warner and Sen. Levin. In the last several hours, Frist has gained momentum on this fight after compromising on a carve out for the Horse Racing Industry. He is now vigorously trying to get this bill passed, by any means, before Congress breaks next week. His worst case scenario is to get passage during the Lame Duck session after elections but it seems now that this could happen sooner rather than later.

The DoD bill will officially be released from conference Monday and be brought up for vote Wed/Thus of next week. Staffers are working through the weekend to get the support they need in for the attachment and passage.

Littleoldlady's avatarLittleoldlady

I think it is irresponsible for Senater Frist to try to attach this bill to a DOD bill.  The DOD bill should be hands off for anything else but defense business.  If he is so against it, let him work out a bill that will stand on its own.  I am also tired of the government trying to tell me what I can do with my money.  When they get thru, I only have a little left so let me be in peace with it.  Maybe we will be forced to open overseas accounts to play online in other countries..then I wonder how they will like that. Anyway, how in the world will they enforce it?  Have they already put some type of spy bug on our computers??  Have they bugged the banks software so that they will know?  Are they going to check people's credit card statements to see what they are buying with their cards?   This bill sounds like bad trouble ..another excuse for the government to pry into the citizen's lives without their consent. VOTE THE IDIOTS OUT!!

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