Abromoff's Pay-Off
Published: Wednesday, March 29, 2006 Online-Casinos.com
ABRAMOFF'S PAY-OFF
Now, what about the lottery, horse racing and fantasy sports exemptions?
The Washington-based publication The Hill carried an interesting article this week that examines the irony of a political situation in the USA where some politicians are being influenced to vote for proposed online gambling prohibition as a reaction to the Abramoff lobbying scandal.
Abramoff has been accused of working behind the scenes in past years to defeat anti-online gambling legislative attempts.
The Hill points out that the same Internet gambling legislation Abramoff fought so hard to defeat on behalf of a client that helped states conduct lotteries over the Internet now includes an exemption or "carve out" to protect those same lotteries!
Abramoff's infamy and legal woes are currently driving anti-gambling legislation across Capitol Hill, even though one of the most prominent bills includes language that would protect his former client.
The piece reveals that two House bills, introduced separately by Reps. Bob Goodlatte and Jim Leach, seek to reinforce existing anti-gambling rules by updating telecommunications and financial-services laws to give enforcement agents more power to prosecute online gamblers who place bets on websites based outside the United States.
A previous version of Goodlatte's bill was defeated on the suspension calendar in July 2000 after a last-minute push by Abramoff and his team to spread misinformation about the bill on behalf of his client at the time, eLottery, a Connecticut-based firm.
Abramoff is now out of the picture, but gambling interests remain powerful on Capitol Hill and the current crop of anti-gambling legislation reflects that sway. Versions of this legislation have passed the House twice and the Senate twice, but never in the same year. Both chambers now appear intent on bringing bills to the floor this year.
The Goodlatte and Leach bills, along with legislation introduced in previous years by Sen. Jon Kyl, attempt to crack down on the estimated $12 billion annual overseas gambling business, but none of those bills would regulate some closely related industries, in an attempt to avoid potential roadblocks.
In addition to the lottery exemption in Goodlatte's bill, both pieces of legislation include language to protect fantasy sports from current anti-gambling laws, and the two bills also avoid a decades-long dispute between Congress and the Justice Department over the legality of interstate pari-mutuel betting on horse races.
The article in The Hill goes on to detail the historical steps that have previously been taken and defeated in attempts to kill off online gambling without upsetting influential interests who also make use of online wagering facilities.
