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Written by Thomas Jensen
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Sunday, 17 January 2010
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As the entire online gambling industry prepares to party up at various networking conventions and awards ceremonies next week in London, a pioneer in the space has issued a call to arms to help fund Haiti Earthquake Relief.
 "It's a disaster in Haiti," stated Bodog Founder Calvin Ayre on his online gambling tablog CalvinAyre.com. "I know they've had a tough go from Mother Nature recently, what with the hurricane and now this earthquake, but I cannot help but be disgusted with the ruling elite that have driven this country down like this while, no doubt, filling their own pockets. That being said, the innocents are, as always, the ones paying a horrendous price for this elite thievery and I think the global online gaming community has a duty to do something. I have asked my Foundation to send £10,000 to U.K. based Oxfam.org.uk to aid in their Haiti relief efforts. But that's not all. I want to personally challenge the rest of the online gaming industry to contribute to Oxfam's Haiti relief efforts. My private foundation will match all donations made to Oxfam by an online gaming person totaling up to $1 million dollars. In a situation like this, each of us has a duty to help. Let's do it!"
Take Calvin Ayre up on his offer and make your contribution double the money going to Help Fund Haiti Earthquake Relief.
Ayre the philanthropist is far from alone in putting his money and clout behind the effort to help fund Haiti Earthquake Relief. Grammy winning musician Wyclef Jean's charity Yele Haiti has already raised more than $2 million dollars thru a grass roots SMS text drive in coordination with the fundraising division of mobile marketing company Red Fish Media called “Give on the Go”.
Yele Haiti was founded in 2005 with the mission to create small-scale, manageable and replicable projects to contribute to Haiti’s long-term progress. The media accused Yele Haiti of not distributing enough money to the Haitian people and using the proceeds to line the pockets of people close to the charity include Wyclef. In our opinion, the expenses in question are legitimate and as the charity scales up via donations more and more of the funds will get to the Haitian people.
In response, Wyclef posted a response on YouTube.com to the allegations that Yele Haiti hasn’t properly administered funds. “I’ve always been committed to the people of Haiti. I live in that country, I’m Haitian. This is where I come from.”
Click here to donate to Yele Haiti Earthquake Relief efforts. |
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 17 January 2010 )
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Written by Thomas Jensen
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Sunday, 17 January 2010
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Point-Spreads.com has learned that at a new law was proposed in New Jersey that will allow Internet gambling by the residents via websites operated by casinos in Atlantic City. NJ Senate S3167 Intra-State Internet Gambling Bill was introduced in the state's senate by Sen. Raymond J. Lesniak (D-Union), who also introduced a separate bill which calls for New Jersey residents to vote on a constitutional amendment that would permit state-regulated sports wagering in Atlantic City casinos and by state residents via an intra-state Internet gambling system.  Checkout the NJ Senate S3167 - Intra-State Internet Gambling Bill.
New Jersey currently offers wagering on horse racing to state residents through the 4NJbets.com Web site. The state would expand the law to permit Internet versions of games currently allowed in Atlantic City casinos, such as Poker, Blackjack and Baccarat. The intra-state Internet gambling system would be regulated by the New Jersey Casino Control Commission, which would establish a Division of Internet Wagering to oversee operations and licensing.
“We’re happy that New Jersey has taken this issue into their own hands,” said iMEGA chairman Joe Brennan Jr. “New Jersey is recognized as having the toughest gaming regulators in the US, but as a leading gaming state with a long track record of doing things the right way, Internet gambling will have a great home here and the opportunity to begin normalizing the industry.”
Though iMEGA supports efforts in Washington DC, especially by Rep. Barney Frank (D) in the US House and Sen. Robert Menendez (D) in the US Senate, to create a Federal path to regulation, the association worked with New Jersey legislators on the new bill to ensure continued progress toward regulated Internet gambling in the US.
“The efforts to resolve the Internet gambling issue have stalled in Washington DC,” Brennan said. “If states assert their right to regulate gambling and take a serious look at permitting Internet gambling within their borders, one side effect may be a breaking of the deadlock in the US Congress.”
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 17 January 2010 )
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Written by Thomas Jensen
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Tuesday, 22 December 2009
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Lawyers representing the commonwealth of Kentucky have refused to name any new individuals targeted in their attempt to seize ownership of 141 Internet domain names, all related to online gambling, and then transfer them to the state. Despite numerous requests from attorneys representing the internet gambling industry’s trade associations, the commonwealth’s attorneys have sternly declined to identify anyone.
 In response to one such request, William C. Hurt, Jr, a lawyer from Hurt, Crosbie & May in Lexington, wrote that no one had the right to any information or even to challenge the motion.
“I do not believe anyone has standing to file a response or motion to strike,” Hurt wrote, despite a January 2009 ruling by the Kentucky Court of Appeals that blocked the seizures and decried the lack of due process for the defendants.
In a secret hearing in Franklin Circuit Court in fall of 2008, Hurt and other contingency-fee lawyers for the state convinced Judge Thomas Wingate to sign off on seizure orders for the domain names, despite no notification or representation in court on the behalf of the affected owners. The commonwealth’s lawyers then sought to have the domain owners pay huge cash settlements to regain ownership of their property, as well as promise to block Kentucky residents from accessing their Web sites.
The matter is currently before the Kentucky Supreme Court, which heard arguments from both sides in October. A decision is expected sometime early next year.
Joe Brennan Jr., chairman of iMEGA, an industry trade association fighting the commonwealth’s efforts, felt that the move to secretly add additional names to the suit was a “hail mary” pass attempt in a losing effort.
“These lawyers lost a very public battle with us in the Court of Appeals, and probably sense the same result from the State Supreme Court, so they’ll do anything to keep this thing alive,” Brennan said. “They were counting on a big payday from our members, in the form of settlements to get their own property back, but it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen. Since they don’t get one nickel from the state to pursue this, it’s clear that the drive for big money has taken over, and any sense of fair play or due process has gone out the window.”
Responding to Hurt’s claim that no one had standing to challenge the motion or to request the names of the new individuals added to the suit, Brennan said, “Their strategy all along was to ignore us every step of the way, even after the Court of Appeals recognized our standing and blocked their seizure efforts. They can stick their head in the sand, but we’re not going anywhere, and frankly, neither is their attempt to seize these domain names.” |
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Written by Thomas Jensen
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Wednesday, 16 December 2009
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Lawyers representing the Commonwealth of Kentucky have asked the Franklin County Circuit court to add names of US citizens and companies to a lawsuit that seeks the forfeiture of 141 Internet domain names. Kentucky’s effort to seize those Web site names, all related to Internet gambling, had been blocked by a January 2009 decision from the Kentucky Court of Appeals, in favor of iMEGA and other groups, including the Interactive Gaming Council and Sportsbook.com, representing the domain owners.
 Though the new motion was made public by Kentucky’s lawyers, none of the names of the US citizens or companies to be added to the seizure effort were revealed, despite requests by iMEGA’s attorneys.
A decision from the Kentucky Supreme Court is pending, after the state’s lawyers challenged the Appeals Court verdict. Oral arguments from lawyers representing both sides of the dispute were heard by the Court in October of this year .
“In the course of the litigation and the Commonwealth’s continuing investigation, the Commonwealth has learned the identity of certain entities and individuals involved in internet gambling operations, some of whom are U.S. citizens,” read the motion from Kentucky’s lawyers. “The Commonwealth asks for leave to amend its Complaint to add causes of action against these individuals and entities in personam.”
“It’s odd that Kentucky’s lawyers would try something like this at such a late date, since we’re expecting a decision on this matter from the State Supreme Court any day now,” said iMEGA chairman Joe Brennan Jr. “It seems like a ‘Hail Mary pass’ to me.”
“We’re unaware of any ‘investigations’ by the state attorney-general or law enforcement in Kentucky. The attorney-general himself asked to be dismissed from this suit last year. And there are no indictments or convictions that would enable Kentucky’s lawyers to add the names of individual US citizens to their seizure action,” Brennan said. “If anything, this last-minute gambit highlights our argument that Kentucky and the lower court provided no due process to the domain owners, since they seem bent on continuing down that path even now.”
The motion called for a hearing on Jan. 20th, 2010, in Franklin Circuit Court, before Judge Thomas Wingate. In Sept. 2008, Judge Wingate issued the original seizure orders for the 141 domain names during a secret court hearing with Kentucky’s lawyers, one which the owners of the domain names were not informed of or given the opportunity to be represented by their own counsel. |
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Written by Thomas Jensen
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Friday, 27 November 2009
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Department of the Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke today announced agreement to delay for six months, until June 1, 2010, required compliance with the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIGEA).  The move blocks regulations to implement the legislation which requires the financial services sector to comply with ambiguous and burdensome rules in an attempt to prevent unlawful internet gambling transactions. House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-MA) has scheduled a House Financial Services Committee hearing for December 3 to discuss Internet gambling legislation and the opportunity to effectively regulate the industry.
“We see this move by the Obama Administration as a decision to halt implementation of UIGEA in order to give Congress time to enact an alternative approach of regulating Internet gambling instead of prohibiting it,” said Michael Waxman, spokesperson of the Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative. “This decision is the latest evidence that momentum is building for a shift in policy and a rewrite of U.S. Internet gambling laws to provide for regulation and taxation instead of prohibition. Over the next six months, Congress should act to create a framework that regulates Internet gambling to protect consumers and collect billions in much-needed revenue for critical federal and state government programs.”
Representatives of the financial services industry, including the Chamber of Commerce and Financial Services Roundtable, have stated publicly that rules to implement UIGEA are ambiguous, burdensome and unlikely to stop Americans from gambling online. In testimony before Congress in April 2008, Department of the Treasury and Federal Reserve System representatives acknowledged the challenges U.S. financial institutions will face in attempting to comply with UIGEA, especially given the chance of multiple interpretations of what may or may not be illegal Internet gambling activity. Recognizing the danger UIGEA posed to the U.S. banking system, the House Financial Services Committee voted in 2008 to suspend UIGEA implementation.
The Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection and Enforcement Act of 2009 (H.R. 2267), legislation introduced by Chairman Frank in May 2009, would establish a framework to permit licensed gambling operators to accept wagers from individuals in the U.S. The legislation, which has attracted a bipartisan group of more than 60 co-sponsors, mandates a number of significant consumer protections including safeguards against compulsive and underage gambling, money laundering, fraud and identity theft. Additional provisions in the legislation reinforce the rights of each state to determine whether to allow Internet gambling activity for people accessing the Internet within the state and to apply other restrictions on the activity as determined necessary.
The Internet Gambling Regulation and Tax Enforcement Act (H.R. 2268), introduced by Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA) as a companion to Chairman Frank’s bill, is anticipated to generate nearly $42 billion over 10 years for the U.S. Treasury primarily through ensuring that applicable individual and corporate taxes and license fees on regulated Internet gambling activities are collected.
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Last Updated ( Friday, 27 November 2009 )
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