 Newsletter Signup
Stay informed with the
NEW Casino City Times newsletter! |
Gaming News
Internet Gambling Prohibition Is a Tough Act to Follow10 July 2000WASHINGTON -- July 10, 2000 - As reported by the Washington Post: "…The thoroughbred industry has invested its political capital in the Internet Gambling Prohibition Act, popularly known as the Kyl bill after its sponsor, Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.). Because of the industry's efforts, the bill includes language clarifying the legality of what racing has done for years--simulcasting, telephone betting and other interstate activity--but took place in a gray area of the law. "If the Kyl bill is passed, racing can move ahead using technologies that other businesses take for granted. Otherwise, the sport could find its current practices under attack--particularly from the Justice Department. "The Kyl bill sailed through the Senate with relative lack of controversy, passing with a unanimous-consent resolution. Nobody wanted to oppose a bill cloaked in protect-the-kids rhetoric, one designed to protect innocents from the lure of online casinos. "…`As a bill gets closer to being enacted, people who are opposed get more vociferous,' said Jay Hickey, president of the American Horse Council, the industry's lobby group. Countless factions besides racing have a stake in the outcome: Native American gambling interests and state lotteries that want to be able to operate online; anti-gambling forces who complain that there are too many exemptions in the bill; people opposed to any regulation of the Internet. "…Under the language in the Kyl bill, an interstate bet is legal if it is legal in the state where it is received. Online wagering would be permitted as long as it is part of a "closed-loop, subscriber-based system." This is essentially the way racing operates now, so the Kyl bill doesn't expand gambling, as some critics have charged..." |