More and more reports are appearing in the mainstream media that are highly critical of the new US gambling bill and the way it passed through the Senate without any debate.
The Financial News asserts: "When a continental European country takes action to protect its industry from external competition, it is called economic nationalism. When the US does the same, we are meant to believe it is about preserving the fabric of society."
The article goes on to suggest that investors in publicly quoted
companies that suffered immediate and heavy losses as a result of
the American political moves probably did not foresee the sector becoming
a political victim of the forthcoming US congressional elections.
"For Republicans struggling to hold on to both houses,
the gambling crackdown is an easy vote winner," the FN
commented. "The law’s backers may rail about the
pernicious effects of online gambling, but they seem happy with gambling
itself," the FN points out."Groups such as
Las Vegas Sands, Harrah’s and MGM Mirage are world leaders.
Yet there has been no bill proposed to congress calling for the demolition
of Atlantic City or Las Vegas!"
The Las Vegas Sun published an article over the weekend that
concluded the proposals rammed through Congress as it went into recess
recently were more about politics than poker.
The newspaper quotes Internet gambling expert and Whittier Law School
professor I. Nelson Rose, who joins other experts in criticizing the
Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act as a well-timed political
maneuver:
"I don't think (Senate Majority Leader) Bill Frist cares
at all about Internet gambling, but he rammed (the bill) through at
the last minute. That's reprehensible, especially for 'Mr. Values.'
One of the values of democracy is that people know what they are voting
on."
The Review Journal.com also joined the many publications voicing
concern at the manner in which the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement
Act was steamrollered through Congress as a late attachment to a critical
security bill recently.
Commenting on the folly of prohibition through legislation that targets
leisure activity, the respected publication reports that proposer
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist was determined to please his religious
right political base with a new law before November's election, no
matter how flawed or misguided it might be.
"The cause was so preposterous it couldn't win passage
as a stand-alone bill," the Review says. "Sen.
Frist first tried to attach the Internet gambling ban to a defense
appropriations bill. No luck. So he slipped it into port security
legislation that passed the House and Senate early Saturday."
The article includes a quote from expert gambling attorney Tony Cabot,
who says: "In order to get this bill passed, they (Republicans)
sold their souls. They gave so many exceptions that it's now a wide-open
area."
The highly respected business publication the Wall Street Journal
reported on Monday that despite a proposed U.S. government crackdown
on the financial instruments used to fund Internet gambling accounts,
experts say patrons of the industry will likely still find ways to
get their bets down.
The WSJ quotes Alan Feldman, spokesman for Las Vegas-based casino
giant MGM Mirage, as saying: "Trying to stop Internet gambling
is akin to trying to hold a wave on the sand and stop the ocean from
sending any more."
Unlike the public online gambling companies whose shares took a
massive hit after Congress voted on the measure, the vast majority
of online wagering sites are not run by listed companies. Frank Fahrenkopf,
president of the American Gaming Association, the industry's Washington-based
trade and lobbying group, told the WSJ that there are somewhere between
2 500 and 3 000 offshore Internet sites taking wagers from Americans,
and only 100 of them are run by public corporations listed on European
exchanges.
The new proposal gives the Treasury Department and enforcement authorities
270 days to devise the regulations necessary for the American banking
industry to stop the US gambling cash flow, and possibly block online
gambling websites from the USA.
Steve Verdier, director of congressional relations for the Independent
Community Bankers of America, which represents almost 5 000 banks
in the U.S. said earlier in the week that, "If they [the
regulators] find that the banks just don't have the technology to
track and block these transactions, then we don't have to. The Fed
and Treasury are not supposed to ask us to do the impossible."