Internet Gambling iMEGA Member Steps Up for Industry, New Bill Generates $72 Billion for States: With the 2010 NCAA Tournament in full swing, the internet gambling industry is hard at work on several fronts this past week. Attorneys for iMEGA filed two affidavits to satisfy the Kentucky Supreme Court's request asserting that one or more members were the owners of an affected domain name in the case of iMEGA v. Wingate & Commonwealth of Kentucky.
Now that the owners of TruePoker.com have stepped up to the plate, the court can make a ruling on the merits of the case which many legal experts polled by Point-Spreads.com believe will be in favor of the internet gambling website operators. The second affidavit was on the behalf of iMEGA's chairman, Joe Brennan Jr., confirming TruePoker.com's domain rights holder as a member of the trade association.
"The owners of the "TruePoker.com" domain have taken a big step on the behalf of the industry and players," stated Joe Brennan, Chairman of iMEGA. "We've overcome the technicalities that gave the Commonwealth their short-lived victory. The Court can now make a decision based on Kentucky law. Based on the language of the decision last week, we know the Court wants to do just that. We know that the law favors us, and frankly, so does the Commonwealth's attorneys…The Commonwealth's attorneys knew they were lucky to get this one into overtime," Brennan said. "It's time to put them away."
In Washington, things are heating up on the national front with Representative Jim McDermott (D-WA) introducing a new version of the Internet Gambling Regulation and Tax Enforcement Act of 2010. The bill plans to tax and collect fees from wagers placed over the Internet in order to raise much-needed revenue for federal and state budgets. The most significant change from earlier versions of the legislation is a provision that allows each State and Tribal Government to be paid six percent of all deposits placed by residents of their jurisdiction with online gambling operators.
“This legislation is a win-win for federal and state leaders, providing an opportunity to regulate a currently off-shore and underground industry, protect consumers and put to good use tens of billions in otherwise lost revenue,” said Michael Waxman, spokesperson for the Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative. “At a time when many policy makers are faced with significant budget shortfalls, it is only common sense to choose regulation that will generate new revenues and create new jobs currently offshore as an alternative to layoffs, program cuts or imposing broad-sweeping taxes that may further depress struggling families and businesses.”
McDermott’s legislation is meant to serve as a companion to the Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection and Enforcement Act of 2009 (H.R. 2267), legislation introduced by Barney Frank (D-MA), Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee that would permit licensed internet gambling operators to accept wagers from individuals in the U.S. In addition, Chairman Frank’s legislation would mandate a number of significant consumer protections and reinforce the rights of each State and Tribal Government to determine whether to allow online gambling activity for people accessing the Internet within their borders and to apply other restrictions on the activity as necessary. More than 65 co-sponsors have announced their support for Chairman Frank’s bill.
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