TV Debate On US Legal Situation
Published: Saturday, September 09, 2006 Online-Casinos.com
TV DEBATE ON U.S. LEGAL SITUATION
Sunday: 09h30 Eastern Time: ESPN's "Outside The Lines"
Readers interested in the ongoing U.S. legal situation, especially on the heels of the recent arrests of senior executives in the business, will want to view an ESPN television program on the subject which is to be screened Sunday at 09h30 ET on the program "Outside The Lines".
It is likely to be a great opportunity to assess the differing views of government and private personalities, featuring Missouri U.S. Attorney Catharine Hanaway who is the driving force behind the BetonSports prosecutions and Russ Hawkins, a Canadian and the owner of MajorWager.com.
Hayden Ware, an executive at World Sports Exchange in Antigua and a fugitive from US justice will also be involved.
Pre-publicity material circulated by ESPN has the following to say about the pre-recorded program:
It's a multi-billion dollar industry that has exploded in the past ten years. Internet gambling went from being non-existent to omnipresent as Americans everywhere are wagering online. Is this industry's somewhat untouched status in jeopardy?
The U.S. House of Representatives just passed Anti-Online gambling legislation in July which could make playing poker online a crime if it makes it through the U.S. Senate. Also in July, the Justice Department essentially shut down one of the biggest online gaming companies in the world: BetOnSports. As the company's former CEO David Carruthers awaits his fate under house arrest in St. Louis, OTL investigates what the climate in the industry is right now and what does this mean for gamblers who use these sites?
Hawkins did a little pre-publicity of his own, revealing his perception of the pre-recorded program in an interview with Gambling911 this week, in which he revealed:
"We discussed a few issues including the new “money laundering” charges that are 100 percent baseless due to the fact that the US Government has no jurisdiction."
Hawkins made reference to the indictments handed down against BetonSports, the company's colorful founder, Gary Kaplan, and its fired CEO, David Carruthers. Both men have been charged with money laundering, racketeering, tax evasion and a host of other felonies.
"We talked about the WTO decision, current holds on state run lotteries as opposed to online casinos as well as an overview of the industry," Hawkins added.
The World Trade Organisation found in favor of tiny Antigua last year, which filed a complaint against the US government for trying to stymie its online gambling industry. Since the decision was rendered, the US government only appears to have gotten more brazen towards internet gambling.
"My position (on the show) was that the United States Government has no right telling us what we can or cannot do at home. It is an invasion of privacy. I went on to leave the open ended question of “Who exactly gets to decide that we are allowed to bet horses online, in our living rooms, but not play poker? Can someone tell me who that person is?"
Hawkins will likely gain extensive coverage as the show airs just prior to kickoff of the 2006 regular NFL season.
