Bingo Bill No Threat Say California Gaming Tribes

18th Sept 2008 – The California Tribal Business Alliance has hit back against the California Charity Bingo Association and its call on Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to reject an upcoming online bingo bill, accusing the association of raising phoney issues on behalf of a slot machine manufacturer.

As reported here yesterday, the California Charity Bingo Association has urged the Governor to reject the remote caller bingo bill on grounds that it would be damaging to charities and the state lottery, as well as opening the way for tribal gaming to move online.

The Tribal Alliance accuses the Charity Bingo Association of being nothing more than a front for slot machine manufacturer Video Gaming Technology, and alleges that a number of charities have installed illegal gaming machines in their parlours at the behest of the machine manufacturers.

“Essentially, SB 1369 could not permit internet wagering because the use of internet technology is limited strictly to the broadcast of a live bingo game to remote locations. Players must be present in the bingo hall, and no wagers or prize awards are allowed via the internet.

“Internet wagering is also prohibited under federal law, so neither charity bingo operators nor Indian tribes may attempt to offer it,” said the Tribal Alliance.

The alliance also defended a clause in the bill which states that charities may not use electronic bingo or slot machines. “The purpose of this clarification is to avoid a dispute with tribes that are paying hundreds of millions of dollars to the state in return for the exclusive right to operate certain types of gaming,” it said.

As the US economy continues to weaken, competition for Californian’s gambling dollars only looks set to intensify between the state lottery, charities and gaming tribes.

The ultimate decision on the bill however will most likely have nothing to do with gaming or charities. Governor Schwarzenegger has vowed to veto a whole raft of bills, including the bingo bill, in retaliation for the legislature’s threat to override a veto he intends to use on the state budget.

Fantasy Sports Rush To Fill Gambling Gap

The US crackdown on internet gambling has created a large and potentially lucrative loophole for fantasy sports leagues, a new report suggests. The study raises further questions about the controversial ban as efforts mount in Washington, D.C., to repeal or amend the sweeping prohibition.
The National Football League and other professional sports leagues were aggressive backers of the 2006 federal ban on internet gambling, the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. The politically-influential leagues have campaigned aggressively against on-line sports betting, fearing scandals that could drag in players and cast a cloud over the integrity of their games.

But while the new law took aim at a wide variety of online gambling activity, it carved out a specific exemption for fantasy sports leagues, argues Joseph Kelly, co-editor in chief of the Gaming Law Review and Economics and a professor of business law at SUNY College Buffalo in New York.
Such fantasy sports leagues have been a boon for the professional leagues, further increasing fan interest in their teams and games. There are now more than 27 million players in the United States with one third playing baseball, and annual revenue is in the range of $800m to $1bn, according to the Fantasy Sports Trade Association.

However, that loophole has unwittingly opened the door to a fast-growing, and so far, legal form of online gambling; one which appears poised to stretch the original intent of the exemption for fantasy sports under the two-year-old internet gambling ban, Kelly warns.

Such concerns come as Congress weighs whether to suspend the increasingly unpopular 2006 internet crackdown. Democratic US Representative Barney Frank, chairman of the powerful House Financial Services Committee, succeeded in pushing through his committee a bill that would have suspended the enforcement of the federal internet gambling ban, though it would preserve the ban on online sports betting.

While an amendment that allows horse tracks to offer on-line wagering generated controversy, the iron-clad exemption for fantasy sports leagues surprisingly generated little press attention, Kelly observes in his article, “Living in a Fantasy”.
“You have some very clever entrepreneurs who could take fantasy sports and define it in such a way that the game will not have any relationship with fantasy sports,” Kelly said in an interview with GamblingCompliance.

In fact, that trend may be already starting to happen, notes Kelly, in his recent Gaming Law Review report. Originally founded by small groups of statistic-crazed baseball fanatics, fantasy sports leagues have been extended to bowling, darts, celebrity leagues and even ‘fantasy Congress’ leagues. “But that trend is likely to move in directions that will push the envelope each further, to the point where the very definition of what is a sport is called into question,” he argues.

Meanwhile, fantasy leagues are increasingly looking like a form of online gambling. Players ante up a fee to play in a tournament, and then compete for a prize or prizes. And those prizes are getting more lucrative as well. Fantasy Fishing Awards, Kelly notes, is “offering a $1m grand prize and 4,000 other prizes in its online game.”

Station Casinos, in turn, which operates the fifth largest sports book, is accepting “wagers based on players’ projected fantasy statistics”, Kelly reports. Some entry fees may be as high as $1,500. More typical is one fantasy baseball league, which charges $29.95 to enter and offers a grand prize of $10,000.

“The entrance fee and the winning of prizes could be considered a bet and therefore be possible illegal gambling,” Kelly writes.

Still, if the coast is clear on the federal level, there are still some potential roadblocks on the state level for would-be online gambling operators, according to Kelly. While the exemption for fantasy sports protects it from federal prosecution under the 2006 internet gambling law, it leaves it up to the states to decide whether to write regulations that would officially legalize fantasy sports.

So far, only Montana has taken this step, but it has also capped profits at 15 percent, effectively discouraging any would-be fantasy sports operators. However, in written opinions, attorney generals in three different states – Florida, Arizona and Louisiana – have concluded fantasy sports are illegal, Kelly writes.

“Attorney general opinions are not law, but they are viewed often by courts as persuasive authority,” Kelly writes.

That said, it is highly unlikely there will any state crackdowns on fantasy sports clubs. For politically savvy district attorneys and attorney generals, there is nothing to be gained – and much to be lost – by going after sports fans. “Some of the biggest names are conducting fantasy sports leagues. I can’t imagine a law enforcement person wanting to get into this,” Kelly said.

By contrast, there have been a few private suits against fantasy sports companies on behalf of individuals who lost money in tournaments run by the firms. So far, none of these suits have been successful.

Nor is there likely to be any action by the major sports leagues, whose main concern is barring online sports betting out of concern it could damage the integrity of their games, said Andrew Zimbalist, an economist at Smith College and one of the nation’s top sports business experts.

“It just increases their following and the intensity of the fan base tremendously,” Zimbalist said. “They certainly don’t want to squelch that activity. It’s low-grade gambling. “

Guam Decides on Online Gambling

In what can only be described as a soap opera of opinions, Guam’s religious elders are somewhat divided, somewhat unified, on the issue of gambling in their island nation. At the core of the issue – at least according to overzealous religious doctrine – the mere word ‘gambling’. The connotations of the word sound alarm bells for purists, who tend to associate the word with the devil’s handiwork.

While Jesuit priest and associate professor Richard McGowan debates the benefits and morality of gambling in Guam, infuriating the Catholic Church, others are pushing for a resolution. That is about to come in the form of a mailed ballot to all of Guam’s 49 000 registered voters.

Included in the ballot will be three statements including: opponents, proponents of a casino initiative, and a neutral analysis by the GEC (Guam Election Commission). Proposition A would see casino gambling (slots, chance games, card games and table games) being legalized at Guam Greyhound Park in Tamuning.

If all goes well, the euphemism ‘responsible gaming’ will become accepted literature in Guam. The vociferous chants of opponents will possibly endure the windfall benefits of a properly regulated gambling industry. A regulated gambling industry allows for certain requirements to be met prior to gaining access to gambling activities.

Barney Frank Online Gambling Bill Will Have To Wait Until Next Year

A Bill was supposed to be voted on this week in the House of Representatives that, if approved, would have forced the government to make a list of what is, or is not, legal as far as online gambling goes.

The Bill passed the House Finance Committee last week after being revamped from a few months earlier. The original Bill was defeated in the Committee, but the new revised edition passed overwhelmingly.

The full House was supposed to vote on the Bill this week, but the current state of Wall Street has taken precedent. That leaves Frank’s Bill to be in waiting until the new year.

Many things can change between now and when the Bill will be voted on. The upcoming election is expected to give Democrats a few more seats in the House, which could be a big indication into whether the Bill will pass or not.

Frank has been pushing for the Congress to overturn the ill-advised UIGEA almost since its inception. The UIGEA was a vague attempt to make online gambling illegal, but instead, all it has done is create more confusion.

Financial institutions have been given the burden of regulating the online gaming industry by not allowing transactions from online gaming companies. The only problem is that the banks have no idea how to police the situation.

Frank’s new Bill would make government create a list of what is legal online. Most likely, the only thing that will be outlawed by the new Bill will be sports gambling.