As reported by eGaming Review, O\’Brien, internet gaming expert at law firm Greenberg Traurig, has called for online gambling industry operators to group together and speak out against politicians when they talk about “online gambling and money-laundering and people being driven to bankruptcy.”
Congressmen Bob Goodlatte and Rick Boucher recently reintroduced the Internet Gambling Prohibition Act, a legislation that will effectively ban US citizens from betting on the internet, while making illegal for online gambling operators to accept any form of online financial transaction, including credit cards, checks and internet transfers.
In a statement accompanying the bill, Boucher suggested online gambling operations “often serve as a prime vehicle for money laundering and other criminal enterprise,” while Goodlatte said: “For too long our children have been placed in harm’s way as online gambling has been permitted to flourish into a $12bn industry.”
“You need more rhetoric in return. The operators do need a concerted effort. They need to work with individual states. I don’t believe regulation will happen at a Federal level,” commented Patrick O\’Brien.
Susan Breen, Head of the betting and gaming department at UK-based law firm Mishcon de Reya, agreed that though there was some work being done behind the scenes by the online operators, more needed to be done.
“Maybe it needs to be a bit more upfront,” she said. “These guys, like Goodlatte, Kyl and Leach, are just not going to give up. But the question is, will someone collapse on the other side of the argument. Will they buckle and let something in?”
Sebastian Sinclair, from US-based gambling consultancy firm Christiansen Capital Advisors, said that while the industry would be impacted by the passage of any legislation, any Act would fail in its ultimate aim. “US citizens will keep right on gambling online if they want to,” he concluded.
In separate news, the New Jersey Assembly Tourism and Gaming Committee approved a measure to legalize betting on professional sports at Atlantic City casinos.
The bill calls now state voters for a referendum on allowing in-person wagering, which the state Casino Control Commission would regulate.
Although it remains a “long shot” that the federal law that since 1992 bars sports gambling in all states but Nevada, Oregon, Delaware and Montana, could be overturned, the bill\’s sponsor said final passage is a “real shot.”
“I believe it is a long shot, but I believe it is a real shot, and I\’ll tell you why,” said Assemblyman Jeff Van Drew. “I believe there are serious flaws in the federal law.”
Elsewhere, Nevada gambling regulators took one of the final steps of the procedure for the adoption of the law approved last year that would allow the use of the hand-held, wireless gambling devices in public areas of Nevada hotel-casinos.
The Nevada Gaming Commission has determined on a unanimous vote that the gambling systems are secure and reliable, and can be set up to ensure minors aren\’t using them and that they\’re being used only in authorized casino areas.
Nevada industry sources believe this is also a step forward for casino companies who would like to eventually offer Internet-based gambling.
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