Dear Reader,


Yeah, I know, I'm a day late...but if you were experiencing the heat that I am, you would be screaming towards the nearest swimming pool.

I was just checking the archives, and found a tidbit of knowledge from the 1 August edition that I thought I would regurgitate:

"Ahh, the dog days of August are here. This is when the heat lingers and sometimes we have to deal with the muggiest, hottest days of the summer. But what does this have to do with dogs? Well I'll tell ya. It has to do with the "dog star" Sirius. Sirius is the brightest star in the northern celestial hemisphere. It belongs to the constellation Canus Major (the Big Dog, it's his nose), and he is one of Orion's hunting dogs which appears overhead in the winter nighttime skies. About a thousand years ago, it rose about an hour before the sun at the beginning of August. People believed the combined light of Sirius and the sun caused hot weather. Today, one would have to wait until late August or early September for the Sun and Sirius to line up like that. "

Looking for an icebreaker at the nearest grill party? Now you have it. And if anyone asks you where you receive such astonishing fascinating little tidbits, you can point them into this direction...

Swelteringly yours,

Bryan

KYL BILL BUILDS OPPOSITION
Carve outs and stomping on State rights have not been well received

Last week's reports on the Kyl Bill being forwarded for vote by the Senate Banking Committee were soon followed by more considered opinions throughout the industry, and many concluded that the proposal as pushed through will almost certainly create powerful opposition both in conference and at the vote.

Prominent among this opposition could be States that are seeing their right to govern activities like gambling trampled by the Federal government's insistence on jumping into the driver's seat on this Bill, diminishing State rights. And the usual carve-outs - the bill would not apply to horse racing, dog racing or other remote-betting operations already approved by American Indian tribes for example - are firmly in place in this latest Kyl proposal, almost guaranteeing as in the past to generate resistance.

That last-minute change to the Kyl Bill that removed language that would allow States to legalize the practice within its boundaries, made through an amendment by Committee Chairman Sen. Richard Shelby, already has Nevada senators and the casino industry concerned.

"The bill is unbalanced and unfair," said Frank Fahrenkopf, American Gaming Association president, adding that it could even expand online gaming as it stands now since Indian casinos and horse and dog racing could still participate in online betting.

Fahrenkopf noted that AGA uses a three-prong test to determine if it will support legislation. This bill failed two parts, since it does not treat all forms of gaming the same and does not preserve states' rights. He noted that this was not a factor in Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl's original bill or in the House version of the bill passed last month.

Nevada Senators Harry Reid and John Ensign, were quick to say that they could not support the bill, based on the state language removal. A Reid aide said the senator wants to make sure there is nothing in the bill that could limit Nevada from regulating itself, should the state opt to allow Internet gaming in the future. As the bill stands now, it is not clear if that is the case.

The bill approved last Thursday must still pass the Senate floor before it goes to conference with House negotiators. There selected members of each chamber will iron out differences between the two versions to form one new bill to be voted on again and sent to the president, if approved.

The Senate is expected to adjourn today for its August recess, so any action would take place after Sept. 3 and the political season is due to officially end early in October, adding time constraints.

Banking Committee Chairman Richard Shelby said online casinos evade the reach of U.S. states that typically have regulated "bricks and mortar" gambling operations, requiring the federal government to step in. And he trotted out the old and still unproved allegation that Internet casinos encourage pathological gambling and enable children to participate. "While gambling has always been subject to state regulation and should remain so, there is no way for the states to effectively control the reach of the Internet at this time," Shelby said.

The Kyl Bill seeks to prevent credit-card companies and other US payment systems to block money transfers to Got2bet sites. Credit-card issuers, stung by disputed charges, are reported to already voluntarily block roughly four out of five Got2bet payments.

Unlike the similar Backus-Leach Bill in the House of Representatives, the Kyl Bill suggests stiff penalties - violators would face fines and up to 5 years in prison.

More articles like this in our news section.

News courtesy of Infopowa news service.