Frist still seeks Internet gambling bill: aides

I think we have some secret "holds" in the Senate.


Frist still seeks Internet gambling bill: aides

Reuters
September 05, 2006

By Peter Kaplan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Aides to Senate Republican Leader Bill Frist said on Tuesday he is still trying to find a way to pass a bill to outlaw most forms of Internet gambling, but offered no guarantee a deal could be struck before lawmakers recess at the end of September.

Frist would like to bring up the bill under unanimous consent, a process by which leaders from both parties agree to bring a bill to a vote on the Senate floor, the aides told reporters.

But outwardly there has been little movement on the bill. A similar version has already passed the U.S. House of Representatives, but efforts to move the Senate bill ran into opposition earlier in the summer from lobbyists representing casino owners and horse- and dog-racing interests.
The bill would prohibit most forms of Internet gambling and make it illegal for banks and credit card companies to make payments to online gambling sites.

Investors in British-based gaming companies such as BETonSPORTS Plc, Partygaming Plc and 888 Holdings Plc are closely watching the U.S. legislation.

The Republican-backed measure has been criticized by some as an election-year appeal to the party's conservative base. Frist, of Tennessee, is widely seen as a potential presidential candidate. Last week, Frist appeared at a congressional field hearing in Cedar Rapids, Iowa -- the state that holds the first presidential nominating contest in 2008 -- to hear concerns about Internet gambling.

Supporters of a crackdown on Internet gambling say legislation is needed to clarify that a 1961 federal law banning interstate telephone betting also covers an array of online gambling.

However, congressional aides have said some Republican senators have placed holds on the bill, and that Democratic senators may eventually do so as well depending on how talks proceed. Any member of the Senate may place a secret "hold" on legislation, which prevents it from being brought up for a vote until concerns about the measure are resolved.
(Additional reporting by Richard Cowan)

On the other hand, this won't help us:

Lobbying Probe
Looks at Payments
To DeLay's Wife

By BRODY MULLINS
September 6, 2006; Page A8


WASHINGTON -- The Justice Department's congressional lobbying-and-bribery investigation is looking into whether former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's wife received money from a lobbying firm for a no-show job, recent FBI interviews indicate.

The two-year investigation is examining whether lobbyist Jack Abramoff and others sought legislative favors for their clients by offering expensive meals, sports tickets, golf outings and other gifts to about a dozen lawmakers and congressional aides.


In the last few weeks, Federal Bureau of Investigation agents have interviewed several people at the Alexander Strategy Group lobbying firm to determine if Christine DeLay was being paid $3,200 a month -- a total of $115,000 over three years -- but not earning it. In a series of interviews last month, investigators questioned people who used to work at Alexander Strategy as well as people who worked in the same building as the now-defunct firm. "They wanted to know how often she came to the office? What did she do there? How long was she there?" said one person who was interviewed by the FBI.

Alexander Strategy was run by a pair of Mr. DeLay's former aides: Tony Rudy, who pleaded guilty to bribery charges in March; and Edwin Buckham, who remains under investigation. The firm also shared clients with Jack Abramoff.

In last month's interviews, investigators also asked about $144,000 that Mrs. DeLay received from one of Mr. DeLay's fund-raising committees, the Americans for a Republican Majority Political Action Committee, which was housed at the lobbying firm's offices. Investigators also inquired about fees paid to Mr. DeLay's daughter, Dani DeLay Ferro, a longtime political consultant to her father.

<REPRINTSDISCLAIMER>Richard Cullen, a lawyer for the DeLay family, said Mrs. DeLay was a "key adviser to her husband and her employment at Armpac and Alexander Strategy was real and valuable." Mr. Cullen has said that Mrs. DeLay's job at the firm was to compile a list of lawmakers' favorite charities. Neither Mr. DeLay nor his wife has been interviewed by the Justice Department, Mr. Cullen said.

He also said that prosecutors haven't made the DeLays a "target" of their investigation. The Justice Department generally doesn't consider someone a target until it is close to issuing indictments.

The latest round of FBI questioning signals that the Justice Department doesn't plan on letting up on Mr. DeLay now that he has left Congress. They also show that prosecutors might target his wife in order to force a guilty plea from Mr. DeLay.

Federal prosecutors used that tactic earlier this year to secure a guilty plea from Mr. Rudy, who admitted in March to accepting bribes when he worked for Mr. DeLay and later conspiring to bribe other lawmakers when he was a lobbyist. As part of the plea deal, Mr. Rudy told prosecutors that he sabotaged an Internet-gambling bill on Capitol Hill in exchange for $50,000 in payments to his wife. In return for his cooperation, federal prosecutors agreed to give Mr. Rudy a lighter sentence and not to prosecute his wife.

Mr. DeLay was indicted in Texas last fall on unrelated charges concerning his role in the 2002 election there. The combination of the Texas and Washington investigations forced Mr. DeLay to step down from his job as majority leader and announce that he wouldn't run for re-election to his House seat this fall.

The federal investigation has already netted guilty pleas from a number of former confidants of Mr. DeLay, in addition to Mr. Rudy. Mr. Abramoff, a top fund-raiser and adviser to Mr. DeLay, pleaded guilty in January to charges that he tried to bribe lawmakers. DeLay aide Michael Scanlon pleaded guilty to similar charges.

Neil Volz, a former chief of staff to Rep. Bob Ney (R., Ohio), pleaded guilty to trying to bribe Mr. Ney when he was a lobbyist working for Mr. Abramoff. Soon after, Mr. Ney announced that he wouldn't seek re-election. David Safavian, another former lobbyist at Mr. Abramoff's firm, was found guilty in June of lying and obstructing justice in the federal corruption investigation.

Write to Brody Mullins at brody.mullins@wsj.com<SUP>1</SUP>
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what did he do to sabotage the gambling bill? He must not have done that very well

WVU said:

what did he do to sabotage the gambling bill? He must not have done that very well

Click to expand...

I think it refers to sabotaging one of the six previous versions that never made it to a vote.

The article below states that, on Tuesday, Frist made the internet gambling bill a top priority for this session. If true, we got snookered during the recess!

http://www.internetnews.com/ec-news/print.php/3630541

Frist Pushing Internet Gambling Ban
By Roy Mark
September 6, 2006

<!--content_start-->

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist targeted a ban on Internet gambling as a top priority for the U.S. Senate in the waning days of the 109th Congress.
With little more than 20 working days left before the November mid-term elections, the Senate faces a crowded agenda including 13 different funding bills to keep the government functioning when its new fiscal year begins on Oct. 1.

Both the Senate and the House of Representatives have a tentative Oct. 9 adjournment date.

In its first session Tuesday since the August recess, Frist prioritized the appropriation bills, judicial nominee confirmations and halting Internet gambling as his top issues.

"Internet gambling threatens our families by bringing addictive behavior right into our living rooms," Frist said in floor remarks.

The House of Representatives approved legislation in July updating the 1961 Wire Act that bans sports wagering over the telephone to include all forms of online gambling.

The bill would also force banks and credit card companies to refuse payments to the estimated 2,300 offshore gambling sites located outside of U.S. jurisdiction.

The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (H.R. 4411) specifically exempts online horse racing and state lotteries from the legislation.

"We tried to get it done [Senate passage of the bill] before the recess but were unable to get unanimous consent to bring the bill up," Karen Weyforth, a spokesperson for Frist's office, told internetnews.com.
To make room on the jammed Senate calendar, Weyforth said Frist hopes to bring up the bill for a vote "with very little debate" by limiting the time available for floor discussion of the legislation.

Throughout both the Clinton and Bush administrations, the Department of Justice (DoJ) has contended the Wire Act already covers Internet gambling.

Previous congressional efforts to clarify the law have failed.
Momentum for a new Internet gambling ban gained traction in January when former lobbyist Jack Abramoff pleaded guilty to three counts of fraud, tax evasion and conspiracy to bribe public officials.

Proponents of the ban contend Abramoff used his influence to kill previous anti-gambling bills, pointing to allegations in court documents that he made payments of $50,000 to the wife of a unnamed Capitol Hill staffer for help in stopping at least one Internet gambling bill.

Internet gambling maintained a high profile this summer as the Department of Justice (DoJ) moved aggressively against London-based BetonSports, which maintains operations in Costa Rica and Antigua aimed at U.S. gamblers.

In July, a St. Louis grand jury issued a 22-count indictment against the gambling firm and its top officers, charging them with racketeering, conspiracy and fraud, including failing to pay federal wagering excise taxes on more than $3.3 billion in wagers taken from U.S. bettors.

Former BetonSports CEO David Carruthers remains under house arrest in St. Louis while company founder Gary Kaplan remains a fugitive at large. The London Stock Exchange suspended trading in the company's shares on July 17 and by August, the company cut off access to its sites for U.S. bettors.

they added the carve outs... and brought it up for a vote under suspension of the rules.

basically this is the exact same bill that Abramoff wanted, where are all the articles titled, "Abramoff in prison but still gets his way"

buddyboy said:

they added the carve outs... and brought it up for a vote under suspension of the rules.

basically this is the exact same bill that Abramoff wanted, where are all the articles titled, "Abramoff in prison but still gets his way"

Click to expand...

buddyboy, did they do this yesterday or today?

WHy is noone talking about this when it appears to be terrible news? Or amI wrong here?

like talking about a no hitter

Tom Brady#1 said:

WHy is noone talking about this when it appears to be terrible news? Or amI wrong here?

Click to expand...

because not to many give a royal rats ass about it

98% wont stop wagering anyway regardless of the bill anyway....there are a few like me that will

Dante said:

because not to many give a royal rats ass about it

98% wont stop wagering anyway regardless of the bill anyway....there are a few like me that will

Click to expand...

Aren't you the star that everyone knows here?

1. Everyone was talking about it night and day a couple of weeks ago. Many threads.

2. If this goes thru they are trying to stop it right over your and mine PC's and cash flows.

Can someone please tell me WTF this means:

To make room on the jammed Senate calendar, Weyforth said Frist hopes to bring up the bill for a vote "with very little debate" by limiting the time available for floor discussion of the legislation.

Is this code for let's try to pass a law without giving people time to discuss it? I gotta be missing something...

Vegas Player 777 said:

Can someone please tell me WTF this means:

To make room on the jammed Senate calendar, Weyforth said Frist hopes to bring up the bill for a vote "with very little debate" by limiting the time available for floor discussion of the legislation.

Is this code for let's try to pass a law without giving people time to discuss it? I gotta be missing something...

Click to expand...

Yeah this quote was scary. Not good...

Tom Brady#1 said:

Aren't you the star that everyone knows here?

1. Everyone was talking about it night and day a couple of weeks ago. Many threads.

2. If this goes thru they are trying to stop it right over your and mine PC's and cash flows.

Click to expand...

star of what???.... wrong guy brady you MUSt be thinking of someone else...:lolBIG:

maybe you mean Sean1 or sugarbear

This is horrible. I'm at a loss for words.

Dante said:

because not to many give a royal rats ass about it

98% wont stop wagering anyway regardless of the bill anyway....there are a few like me that will

Click to expand...

I tell ya' Dante, that % will drop fast if the DOJ uses this law to go after Neteller transactions. And I think the technology exists for banks to code them , but has yet to be implemented due to cost. That will change when the Federal Reserve is on the hook to ensure compliance with this law.

Bottom line, how many hoops will internet gamblers be willing to jump through if HR4411 passes knowing HR4777 (Gambler's Prohibition) will follow?

Frist has got to be a certifiable madman. That he would be pressing this issue ahead of all of the very legitimate and real issues congress has to worry about in this short session tells me that something is very wrong here. Despite all of the cynics in this forum, I just refuse to believe that this group of intelligent people will allow Frist to ram this down their throats. Freaking politics...unreal.

Banks don't want this, voters don't give a crap, and Frist is politically irrelevant.

Vegas Player 777 said:

Can someone please tell me WTF this means:

To make room on the jammed Senate calendar, Weyforth said Frist hopes to bring up the bill for a vote "with very little debate" by limiting the time available for floor discussion of the legislation.

Is this code for let's try to pass a law without giving people time to discuss it? I gotta be missing something...

Click to expand...

I think that Frist, in his capacity as Senate Majority Leader, has the authority to allocate the exact amount of time a bill is to be discussed prior to voting on it, once that bill is brought to the floor of the Senate.