BARNEY'S OPPONENTS

9 November 2007

Washington political journal takes a snapshot of anti-online gambling elements


The Washington political journal Politico this week takes a look at the efforts of Congressman Barney Frank to garner support for his Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, and who opposes it.

The article gives an informed background to the proposed legislation, which seeks to licence and tax online gambling in the United States, protecting the players and effectively sidelining the anti-online gaming Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act passed last year. It also considers the impact of the Washington visit by 100 members of the 800 000 Poker Players' Alliance pressure group, and the counter attack that it may have triggered.

Opining that the odds are still not in PPA’s favor, Politico claims that the organisation is facing a predictable head-to-head fight with family and evangelical organisations that say gambling leads to tragic addiction and compromises the moral fabric of the family.

"A more muscular counter, however, could come from a coalition of professional sports leagues — from basketball to football — that also oppose the bill," the author surmises, quoting Focus on Family spokesman Tom McClasky who says that although opponents accept that the Frank Bill has little chance of success in Congress, they're not about to take any chances with it.

McClasky called the Frank porposal “somewhat ridiculous” and raised concerns about the logistics of online gambling. “There is the anonymity angle. You just do not know where the money is going.”

Predictably, McClasky also attacks the PPA, asking where it obtains its funding and suggesting it could be obtained through unspecified "impure practices."

PPA's executive director John Pappas informed Politico that the bulk of the PPA’s funding comes from the individual members. Membership costs $35, and many members contribute beyond their dues. Other funds come from trade association the Interactive Gaming Council, a non-profit association in Canada who's membership includes a variety of online gambling sites and foreign interests, including Curacao Internet Gaming Association. Greenberg Traurig, the notorious and disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff’s former lobbying firm, is also a council member.

Aside from the family and evangelical groups, Politico correctly identifies powerful and well funded US national sports bodies as major opponents of online gambling.

"Sports leagues are also opposed to making online gambling legal, in part because of the possibility of scandals and corruption within the leagues," the article informs. All of the major sports leagues — the National Football League, Major League Baseball, the National Hockey League and the National Collegiate Athletic Association have consistently opposed sportsbetting, and as recently as last month issued a joint press statement saying: “To maintain the integrity of our sports, we strongly back those who are enforcing the law against sports gambling. As the regulations are finalized, we will join others and work to ensure that foreign gambling operations cannot use the Internet to violate American gambling laws.”

The sports and family-religious groups have supported on another against online gambling. Family groups are already appealing to members across the country to urge local lawmakers to defeat the Frank measure, which is still in committee.

The Politico piece says that one factor that could upend the [UIGEA] legislation is a trade dispute with Antigua over online gambling that could end up leaving the United States on the hook for billions of dollars. The World Trade Organisation recently ruled that the U.S. violated its international treaty commitments by going after offshore online gambling outfits without cracking down on American operators offering remote betting on horse and dog racing, currently exempted from UIGEA and other anti-online gambling laws.

Focus on the Family Action’s Chad Hills believes family groups will prevail in the fight against online gambling, but Pappas argues that the only way families can truly be protected against unregulated gambling is to regulate it. “We are losing the ability to protect our own consumers who are playing on those sites,” said Pappas.

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