Antigua-Barbuda 'encouraged' by US online gambling proposal
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| Published on Friday, April 27, 2007 |
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By William Roberts and Brian Faler
WASHINGTON, USA (Bloomberg): US Representative Barney Frank, the Democratic chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, has introduced legislation to allow online gambling in the US, loosening a ban enacted last year and drawing praise from Antigua and Barbuda.
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US Rep. Barney Frank.
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The legislation would allow Americans to bet online with licensed Internet operators that have safeguards against underage and compulsive gambling and agree to be subject to US jurisdiction and taxes, Frank said at a press conference in Washington.
"The issue here is whether adults who work for their money, in the comfort of their homes, should be allowed to engage in a form of recreation which they enjoy and which has no conceivable negative impact on anybody else," said Frank, a 14-term lawmaker from Massachusetts.
Some Republicans said they would vigorously oppose Frank's legislation, and lawmakers predicted an uproar over it.
"There are high levels of passion by people on both sides," said Representative Ray LaHood, an Illinois Republican. "The people who are opposed feel very strongly."
The proposed legislation would let the US Treasury Department set protections against money laundering and fraud.
It bars betting on college and professional sports whose governing bodies such as the National Collegiate Athletic Association and National Football League don't sanction gambling.
The Republican-controlled Congress passed legislation September 30 that curbs financial payments from banks to offshore Internet casinos that are illegal under US law. Sponsored by Representative Jim Leach, an Iowa Republican who lost a re-election bid in November, the law is aimed at shutting down the payment system for Internet gambling.
Democrats won control of Congress in January. Still, opponents of Internet gambling predicted Frank's bid would be defeated.
"I don't see the Congress going in the opposite direction anytime soon," said Representative Bob Goodlatte, a Virginia Republican and co-sponsor of last year's ban. "I am very strongly opposed."
Internet-based casinos such as PartyGaming Plc and 888 Holdings Plc, operating in locations such as Gibraltar and Antigua, took in billions from US gamblers.
Analysts said the legislation to create exemptions for license holders, may favor US gambling companies. "Wouldn't you expect licensing in the US to benefit US companies and US shareholders?" said Ivor Jones, an analyst at Panmure Gordon & Co. in London.
Shares of PartyGaming dropped 7.5 pence, or 13 percent, to 51 pence in London, the steepest slide since October 16, which was the first trading day after the company ceased US operations.
After slumping 76 percent in 2006, the stock had almost doubled this year before Frank's remarks on Thursday.
Shares of London-based Sportingbet Plc and Gibraltar-based 888 Holdings Plc also fell in London trading Thursday.
Frank introduced the bill with Representative Peter King, a New York Republican, and 10 other co-sponsors. Frank and King said they expect many other members will come forward to support the legislation.
"This is a kind of libertarian, let-people-have-fun kind of thing," Frank said.
The ban has "activated" online poker players and others who are lobbying now for a reversal, he said.
The government of Antigua, which is home to dozens of online gambling operations and has brought a complaint against the US in the World Trade Organization, praised Frank's initiative in a written statement.
"While we have not yet seen the legislation," said Errol Cort, Antigua's minister of finance and the economy, "we are encouraged that such a prominent legislator in the United States has stepped forward in support of a rational approach to the provision of remote gaming services."
Poker Players Alliance Chairman Alfonse D'Amato, a former Republican senator from New York, called Frank's proposal "a common sense approach to Internet gambling."
"The Internet poker genie is out of the bottle. You cannot put it back," D'Amato said in a statement. "The United Kingdom successfully regulates gambling, and with this bill we can too."
Representative Shelley Berkley, a Nevada Democrat, plans to introduce a measure next week calling for a one-year federal study of online gambling, said her spokesman, David Cherry. | | | | Reads : 56 |
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