Bet From Anywhere Blog

Legislation introduced this week would allow Internet wagering at Atlantic City casinos.

The bill sponsored by state Sen. Raymond Lesniak, D-Union, specifically would allow “New Jersey residents to place wagers on casino games via the Internet,” according to the text of the legislation.

All games, including poker, would be offered through Internet wagering, the bill states.

In addition, the bill would require that the equipment used to operate the Internet wagering be located in a restricted area of a casino hotel or in a secure facility off the premises of the casino hotel, “but within the territorial limits of Atlantic County.”

The bill comes with an annual tax of 20 percent on gross revenue from Internet wagering, which would be paid into a casino revenue fund. It also provides for the creation of a Division of Internet Wagering under the direction of the state Casino Control Commission.

Additionally, the Casino Control Commission and the New Jersey Racing Commission would allow the operation of terminals at racetracks at which “individuals who have registered to participate in Internet wagering may wager on games conducted at casinos in Atlantic City.”

Those terminals would be identical in appearance to casino slot machines.

The full text of the proposed legislation, S3167, “Permits Internet wagering at Atlantic City casinos under certain circumstances,” is available here.

Source: http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/breaking/article_dfdd5dcc-0375-11df-b557-001cc4c002e0.html

Tags:   internet gambling · New Jersey · united statesNo Comments.

Legislation to allow Internet gambling is scheduled to be introduced today by US Representative Barney Frank.

Similar legislation failed in the last Congress. Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat, has support for the bill from such companies as Youbet.com Inc., and Harrah’s Entertainment Inc., in addition to the Poker Players Alliance, formed to overturn a 2006 ban on Internet poker. [Read more →]

Tags:   Barney Frank · uigea1 Comment

St. Paul resident Chris Wallace said he makes about $2,000 a week playing poker online, enough to support himself, his fiancée and his dog. He’s not about to stop, even as Minnesota officials take new steps to try to crack down on online gambling.

“I have e-mailed the Justice Department, and I’ve volunteered to be arrested,” said Wallace, 35, who left college because online poker was taking up so much of his time. “I play online poker. Come and get it.”

The state of Minnesota wants to do just that. A division of the state Department of Public Safety that enforces gambling and alcohol laws said Wednesday that it has instructed 11 national and regional telephone and Internet service providers (ISPs) to block access by all Minnesota-based computers to nearly 200 gambling websites.

Minnesota, citing a 1961 federal anti-gambling law, says all online gambling within its borders is illegal, even if the games are hosted outside the United States.

“We are putting site operators and Minnesota online gamblers on notice and in advance,” says John Willems, director of the state’s Alcohol and Gambling Enforcement Division. “State residents with online escrow accounts should be aware that access to their accounts may be jeopardized and their funds in peril.”

Full story at: startribune.com

Tags:   Justice Department · MinnesotaNo Comments.

Appeals court says no to online poker in Washington when it rejected Lee Rousso’s arguments that a 2006 law that forbids Internet gambling in the state violates the clause of the U.S. Constitution that gives the federal government the right to regulate interstate commerce.

The unanimous decision by three judges of division I of the appeals court says that Rousso would have to show that policing Internet poker imposes excessive burdens and not worth the state’s commitment to regulating gaming.

“Ultimately, given the importance of the state’s interest in protecting its citizens from the ills associated with gambling, and the relatively small cost imposed on out-of-state businesses by complying…Rousso has failed to meet his burden….”

Rousso said appeals court rejected many of the state’s arguments in the case, so he is leaning in favor of taking the case to the state Supreme Court…

While in New Jersey, a group representing gaming and horse-racing industries in New Jersey filed a lawsuit on Monday seeking to overturn a federal law that bans sports betting in New Jersey and most other U.S. states.

The suit filed against the federal government claims the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 violates five amendments to the U.S. Constitution by discriminating against the people of New Jersey and by regulating a matter that should be reserved to the states.

Gaming is an important industry in New Jersey, with 11 casinos located in Atlantic City. New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine told reporters the initiative to legalize sports betting was “worth pursuing” and would boost Atlantic City if it happened.

Tags:   Jon Corzine · New Jersey · Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 · sports betting · WashingtonNo Comments.

When financial needs override the hypocritical morals… In a statement on Thursday, the House of Representatives Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank vowed to seek the repeal of UIGEA as part of a package of US financial reforms. It’s unclear if the act ever actually succeeded at retargeting scurrilous online gamblers back towards resorts or riverboats. It did, however, succeed at costing a number of foreign websites quite a bit of money; a fact that angered a number of countries.

The sat particularly badly with the island nation of Antigua, which complained to the WTO over what it saw as discriminatory trade practices. The WTO agreed and ruled against the United States back in April of 2007—a fact the US has more-or-less ignored. Gambling laws have always been a patchwork of contradictions; the federal government prohibits gambling across state lines but allows states to set their own laws when it comes to intra-state betting. Many states have laws that favor particular types of gaming over others; Kentucky has gone so far as to try to seize control of online gambling sites and makes no secret of its stance on horse racing. Taken as a whole, the US policy of simultaneously condemning and supporting gambling is uglier than the hypothetical love child of Janet Reno and Alan Greenspan. [Read more →]

Tags:   antigua · Barney Frank · uigea · WTONo Comments.