AGA Lobbying Spends The Big Bucks

Published: Thursday, February 21, 2008 Online-Casinos.com

AGA LOBBYING SPENDS THE BIG BUCKS

US casino trade association laid out $1.7 million last year

The American Gaming Association, a trade group that represents the casino industry in the United States, spent $1.7 million in 2007 to lobby the federal government on Internet gambling legislation, reports Associated Press.

The trade group, which opposes legislative proposals that would preempt state authority to regulate gambling, spent $800 000 on lobbying in the second half of the year alone, according to a disclosure form posted online last week by the Senate's public records office.

The American Gaming Association supports legislation that would fund a federal study on the impact of Internet gambling. The group has remained neutral on a law passed by Congress in late 2006 that attempts to crack down on Internet gambling by banning the use of credit cards to pay for online bets.