Goodlatte tries to revive Internet gambling bill
Says operators' greed spurred misleading lobbying by Abramoff
article retrieved April 6, 2006 from:
"http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD/MGArticle/RTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1137835180973"
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tbody><tr valign="top"> <td> BY PETER HARDIN
TIMES-DISPATCH WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT
</td> <td align="right"> Apr 6, 2006
</td> </tr> </tbody></table>
<!-- NO VIDEO CHILDREN --> WASHINGTON -- A Virginia lawmaker played the disgraced-lobbyist-Jack Abramoff card yesterday in pushing to revive a proposed crackdown on Internet gambling.
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Rep. Robert W. Goodlatte, R-6th, told a House subcommittee his bill would provide tools to combat offshore operators of thousands of Internet gambling sites that are "sucking billions of dollars out of the United States."
"The greed that motivates many of these offshore establishments has also motivated nefarious lobbyists such as Jack Abramoff to spread misinformation about previous attempts of the Congress to ban online betting," he said.
In 2000, the House defeated an earlier version of Goodlatte's bill, and it later was reported that lobbyist Abramoff helped defeat it. Abramoff has pleaded guilty in an influence-peddling scandal.
Rep. Robert C. Scott, a fellow Virginian from the 3rd District, was a leader of efforts to derail Goodlatte's bill yesterday.
Scott, senior Democrat on the House crime subcommittee, predicted the bill would prove inef- fective because of the difficulty of prosecuting offshore operators, especially when foreign governments might not cooperate.
Pointing also to the difficulty of identifying Internet gambling activities, Scott contended, "If we wanted to be effective in prosecuting illegal gambling over the Internet, we would prosecute individual gamblers." The bill does not propose that.
A Justice Department anti-racketeering official, Bruce G. Ohr, voiced general support for the bill while saying he had concern it still might allow some Internet gambling from the home.
An official representing the Independent Community Bankers of America, Samuel A. Vallandingham of Barboursville, W.Va., criticized the "enormous regulatory burden" the bill would cause.
Goodlatte said the bill would update federal law that prohibits interstate gambling over phone wires and would bar gambling businesses from getting credit card, check, wire and Internet transfer payments for illegal gambling.
Much of the hearing was devoted to questions about whether the bill would have the effect of allowing interstate betting tied to horse racing, a question that got varying interpretations and was not resolved.
Goodlatte reported that Internet gambling is a $12 billion industry with about $6 billion of that coming from bettors in the United States.
In the realm of poker on the Internet, for example, at any one time, hundreds of sites are running thousands of games for millions of players around the world.
[see original article (link above) for writer contact phone and email]
Says operators' greed spurred misleading lobbying by Abramoff
article retrieved April 6, 2006 from:
"http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD/MGArticle/RTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1137835180973"
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tbody><tr valign="top"> <td> BY PETER HARDIN
TIMES-DISPATCH WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT
</td> <td align="right"> Apr 6, 2006
</td> </tr> </tbody></table>
<!-- NO VIDEO CHILDREN --> WASHINGTON -- A Virginia lawmaker played the disgraced-lobbyist-Jack Abramoff card yesterday in pushing to revive a proposed crackdown on Internet gambling.
<script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript"><!-- if (hasPhoto) document.write('
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Rep. Robert W. Goodlatte, R-6th, told a House subcommittee his bill would provide tools to combat offshore operators of thousands of Internet gambling sites that are "sucking billions of dollars out of the United States."
"The greed that motivates many of these offshore establishments has also motivated nefarious lobbyists such as Jack Abramoff to spread misinformation about previous attempts of the Congress to ban online betting," he said.
In 2000, the House defeated an earlier version of Goodlatte's bill, and it later was reported that lobbyist Abramoff helped defeat it. Abramoff has pleaded guilty in an influence-peddling scandal.
Rep. Robert C. Scott, a fellow Virginian from the 3rd District, was a leader of efforts to derail Goodlatte's bill yesterday.
Scott, senior Democrat on the House crime subcommittee, predicted the bill would prove inef- fective because of the difficulty of prosecuting offshore operators, especially when foreign governments might not cooperate.
Pointing also to the difficulty of identifying Internet gambling activities, Scott contended, "If we wanted to be effective in prosecuting illegal gambling over the Internet, we would prosecute individual gamblers." The bill does not propose that.
A Justice Department anti-racketeering official, Bruce G. Ohr, voiced general support for the bill while saying he had concern it still might allow some Internet gambling from the home.
An official representing the Independent Community Bankers of America, Samuel A. Vallandingham of Barboursville, W.Va., criticized the "enormous regulatory burden" the bill would cause.
Goodlatte said the bill would update federal law that prohibits interstate gambling over phone wires and would bar gambling businesses from getting credit card, check, wire and Internet transfer payments for illegal gambling.
Much of the hearing was devoted to questions about whether the bill would have the effect of allowing interstate betting tied to horse racing, a question that got varying interpretations and was not resolved.
Goodlatte reported that Internet gambling is a $12 billion industry with about $6 billion of that coming from bettors in the United States.
In the realm of poker on the Internet, for example, at any one time, hundreds of sites are running thousands of games for millions of players around the world.
[see original article (link above) for writer contact phone and email]
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