Gambling Lobby Spent Millions Last Year to Ban Internet Betting

**BingoT** · 31st March 2007, 03:07 PM

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Gambling Lobby Spent Millions Last Year to Ban Internet Betting
A new report revealed today that the Gambling industry spent more than $25 million last year lobbying in Washington. It was also revealed that the primary focus of the lobbying was to get a ban on Internet betting.

Last year when Senator Bill Frist attached the UIGEA to the unrelated Safe Port Act investigations led to the revelation that more than $10,000 was contributed to Frist by Harrah's and other gambling entities. However, the report released today reveals that millions of dollars went to various politicians to get Internet gambling banned. This was not a few thousand dollar campaign. This was a millions of dollars campaign.

Hundreds of thousands of Americans play poker online and the Poker Player Alliance is strongly fighting for a poker carve-out from the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. Shelley Berkley and Jon Porter from Arizona have introduced a gambling study about the regulation of online gaming. And then Barney Frank, the Chairman of the Financial Services Committee, has jumped on board to fight for Americans rights to freedom.

However, one professsor believes none of the proposed reversals or amendmants to the UIGEA will pass because the true passion Americans have for online gambling is just not there.

"It's a subject the public cares somewhat about," said Robin Hanson, an economics professor at George Mason University who studies the gambling industry. "But they're not overwhelmingly passionate about it."

When compared to the $25 million spent by the gambling industry to ban Internet gambling last year, the Internet gambling industry had basically no lobbying power in Washington.

Hanson also points out that it is much more difficult to repeal a gambling ban than to get a gambling ban approved because politicians do not want to be seen as approving of gambling activities.