Gambling Bill Being Drafted
May 29, 2003
BOSTON -- Legalized gambling, seemingly dead after it was soundly defeated in the House this spring, is about to resurface in the Senate. Sen. Michael Morrissey, D-Quincy, is drafting legislation that would allow an Aquinnah Wampanoag casino in Southeastern Massachusetts and slot machines at several locations across the state.
A gaming vote isn't expected until after the Senate concludes this week's debate on a proposed $22.56 billion state budget that would make deep cuts in education and local aid. The Legislature must close a $3 billion shortfall for the 2004 fiscal year, which begins July 1.
Sen. Morrissey said it could take two to three weeks to write the bill. "After we get through the budget and see how bad things are, and we still haven't bottomed out yet, maybe people are willing to reconsider it, maybe not," said Sen. Morrissey, who co-chairs the Government Regulations Committee.
Other senators also are expected to push plans for slot machines and commercial casinos if the issue hits the Senate floor. Sen. Morrissey said the final bill should not restrict slot machines to the state's racetracks. A number of state representatives in the House, including some from the SouthCoast, voted against putting slots at the tracks because it offered no economic development opportunities for their districts.
Southeastern Massachusetts lawmakers said lobbying over the gaming issue intensified this week. But even if a gambling bill passes the Senate, it faces tough opposition. House Speaker Thomas M. Finneran opposes the expansion of gambling, saying it could hurt the state Lottery.
Gov. Mitt Romney has pushed a plan to allow slot machines for a limited period of five years, rather than allowing full-fledged casinos. In April, The House defeated a proposal to allow slots at the state's four racetracks by a vote of 86 to 65.
"I think the House voted quite substantially against gambling," said Rep. Anne Paulsen, a Belmont Democrat and a leading gambling opponent. "It was not close. It will be very difficult to overturn it."
Sen. Mark C.W. Montigny, D-New Bedford, remains on the fence about gaming. "I continue to be very skeptical about this as proposed as manna from heaven," Sen. Montigny said. "The only people who are pushing it are the lobbyists and those that will make money from it."
Sen. Montigny said a number of questions need to be answered to get his vote, including the location of the gambling parlors and the effect on the state Lottery. The Lottery generates $900 million a year in aid to cities and towns.
"When there's desperation and blood in the water, that's when the sharks in this industry come out in droves, and they are out right now in droves," Sen. Montigny said. O'Leary, a gambling critic, said "there is a significant amount of opposition" to it in the 40-member Senate.
The Senate has yet to vote on a bill sponsored by Sen. Joan M. Menard, D-Somerset, that would allow three commercial casinos across the state -- including one in SouthCoast -- and slots at the four racetracks.
There is also concern that opening the door to gambling could lead to a proliferation of Indian casinos. Two other Massachusetts tribes -- the Nipmuc in central Massachusetts and the Mashpee Wampanoag on Cape Cod -- are believed to be close to securing federal recognition. That would make them eligible to offer whatever type of gambling is legal in the state.
But gambling supporters say slots alone could raise $500 million a year, helping to save local aid and human service programs. They want to recapture the $200 million a year that state residents spend on casinos and slots in Connecticut and Rhode Island. "We will try to put together a draft and present it to the members of the Senate to see what their feeling is," Morrissey said.
(Gambling Magazine)

WASHINGTON
Internet gambling has taken the betting world by storm, but efforts are underway on Capitol Hill to put an end to online gaming.
Lawmakers are crafting various measures that would make it illegal to use credit cards or electronic funds transfers to pay for gaming activities, and are hoping that banning revenue exchanges will cut the bloodlines to the Net gaming industry.
"There's a good chance it could go somewhere this year but it has the same problems it's had in the past, and that's that no one really wants to get rid of all Internet gambling," said Dan Walsh, a Washington lobbyist for the Interactive Gaming Council (search).
"I don't think there are many members of Congress who get up in the morning and worry about an adult waking up and once a week betting $50 on a hand of blackjack," he added.
Those who oppose Internet gambling say it encourages minors to bet, increases the likelihood of credit-card fraud, contributes to addiction and poses jurisdictional snares. Some critics also say offshore gambling sites could be used for money laundering and could support terrorists or other criminals.
"The very nature of gambling, with its great potential for fraud and corruption, demand that it be regulated as it now is in all jurisdictions," Rep. Spencer Bachus (search), R-Ala., said in an e-mail to Foxnews.com. "Cyber gambling is the crack cocaine of gambling and will create a new generation of addicts unless we stop it."
Gaming supporters denounce these arguments and claim gamblers will find ways around the law. If properly regulated, they argue, the flourishing industry can become more transparent and the money trail can be more easily followed while providing states with much-needed revenue.
"I think it's very dangerous to start regulating and prohibiting activities on the Internet that are not, per say, illegal in the bricks and mortar world," said Jeff Modisett, a consultant and former attorney general of Indiana.
If a ban passes, "this would be the first time that Congress, outside of the area of pornography, has tried to regulate the Internet," said Dan Spiegel, a lawyer with Washington law firm Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, which represents online gaming company Virtual Holdings (search).
One bill, sponsored by Rep. Jim Leach (search), R-Iowa, makes it illegal for Net gaming businesses to accept bank tools like credit cards and electronic funds transfers.
"Internet gambling serves no legitimate purpose in our society," Leach said in a statement. "It is a danger to family and society at large."
After the bill was approved by the House Financial Services Committee in March, the House Judiciary Committee this month removed provisions that would allow some forms of online gaming like state lotteries and horseracing.
A sister bill to the Leach legislation sponsored by Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., is supposed to be voted on in the Senate Banking Committee sometime in June, and officials say they expect it to pass the committee.
The White House has indicated that President Bush would support the Kyl-Leach bill.
A bill sponsored by Bachus resembles the Leach bill and keeps the carve-outs. It also eliminates a provision of the Leach bill that requires U.S. officials to work with foreign governments to determine if offshore gambling sites are being used for money laundering.
The Bachus bill passed the House Financial Services Committee last week and is headed to the House floor.
Bachus said the bipartisan majority in which his bill passed is a "strong indicator of its probable success" in the House.
"However, 10 years of hindsight has taught me that in Congress, passage of legislation is never as easy as it sounds."
A third bill by Rep. John Conyers (search), D-Mich., would create a commission to study the legalities of online gaming and the issues surrounding it.
Washington's efforts to choke terrorists' money supplies could boost ban supporters' arguments that all possible money routes should be cut off, especially when the FBI says organized crime is operating through Internet gambling.
"Sort of in the postwar environment here and the continued efforts against terrorism, we have a very significant desire to see something happen on this," said House Financial Services spokesman Scott Duncan.
But gaming supporters say there's no solid evidence terrorists benefit from online gaming and taking away legitimate payment methods will make it harder to follow the criminal money trail.
Online gambling businesses have a transaction number that shows up on consumers' credit cards. Take away the cards and gamblers will have to find back-alley ways to place their bets, say supporters.
"All it's going to do is press online gaming into the backroom speakeasies of cyberspace, just like alcohol and prohibition," said Robin Weissman, who works with Spiegel.
The Justice Department estimates that by the end of 2003, there will be 1,800 gambling sites generating about $4.2 billion.
(FOX News)

Fire destroys Vegas casino that was site of integrated gambling
May 30, 2003
BY KEN RITTER
LAS VEGAS--A historic casino that was once the only integrated gambling spot in this city and played host to the likes of Sammy Davis Jr. and Nat ''King'' Cole was destroyed Thursday by fire.
Three people were injured and about 100 others evacuated from apartments in what were once the Moulin Rouge casino's hotel rooms. The apartments were separate from the casino and weren't on fire.
The Moulin Rouge opened in 1955 as the first and only integrated casino in Nevada. Frank Sinatra, Cole and Davis were among headliners who appeared in the Club Rouge showroom.
The casino closed after only six months, but in 1960, city and gambling leaders met there to desegregate the Las Vegas Strip.
The long-closed property has had a string of owners and renovation plans--and long has been a focus of preservationists. This month, it was listed among 11 Nevada historic places in danger of being lost to development and other pressures.
Firefighters arrived at the building north of downtown shortly after 1 a.m. to find the roof engulfed in flames. The building was gutted.
A damage estimate was not available, and the cause of the fire was being investigated.
AP