Armey has seen the light

CNET posted an interesting article today by former Republican House Majority Leader, Dick Armey, who is now heading the FreedomWorks organization.

What makes this story interesting is the fact that Armey and his organization appear to be lining up against the UIGEA and in favor of Internet freedoms in general.

Sweet.

What isn't so great is the fact that he's supporting Barney Frank's Payments System Protection Act, which still holds the view that sports gambling is illegal.

Regardless, I still feel the Act is a step in the right direction. I have no idea how they plan to keep the different types of online gambling segregated anyway, so I suspect it's passing would be a good thing for sports bettors too.

Back to Dick Armey... I used to view this guy as something of a Republican sycophant, but recently I have had reason to re-evaluate my opinion of the guy.

If you are interested, you should read the recent book, Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency, which not only tears down the most evil VP in history, but also recounts a shocking story of how Dick Cheney deceived Dick ... [More]

Bermuda considers Internet gambling

Normally, I would probably post this in the Politics forum, but since the election would probably swamp any discussion of this topic, I figured I'd drop it here in the Gaming forum.

Anyway... Holy Crap! Bermuda is actually considering getting into the online gambling industry!

According to the Royal Gazette - and isn't it awesome that Bermuda has a paper called the Royal Gazette? - the small island "is currently assessing its suitability as a centre of Internet gaming, following a path taken by rival jurisdictions including Antigua and Barbuda and Costa Rica."

According to the article, "Internet gaming is one of a series of possibilities, including casinos and a national lottery, being looked at in the $300,000 feasibility study.

This is fantastic for a lot of reasons.

First, this makes perfect sense for a small island nation/territory such as Bermuda. With only 65,000 people and a land area smaller than Manhattan island, Bermuda derives most of its revenues from international banking and tourism. In that respect, things have been going pretty well, as Wikipedia notes that Bemuda had the world's highest GDP per capita in 2005.

However, which two industries do you think are g... [More]

Is it Time to Boycott Kentucky?

I've been waiting for the dust to settle down before covering the Kentucky situation too much, but unfortunately this is a situation that seems to get more and more bizarre as the days go by.

So let's review the whole story...

It all really began last year, when Democratic Kentucky Governor Candidate Steve Beshear ran and won his election on a platform of expanding the gambling laws in Kentucky to increase state revenues. He won that election by a margin of 59% to 41%. No matter how you look at it, hat is a mandate to change the gambling laws in your state.

But nobody was expecting the steps he was going to take.

Beshear wasted no time. Barely in office, in February he introduced legislation to allow casinos in Kentucky, and claimed that his plan would generate hundreds of millions in increased revenues. Fine.

However, somewhere between February and September, Beshear realized that brick and mortar casinos are no longer the preferred destination for young gaming dollars. Additionally, the looming recession was indicating that land-based casinos were no longer a sure bet in tough economic times. While people might still gamble during a recession, they are more likely to gamble somewhere convenient, like online.

Thus, Beshear's revenue-generating plan had a major fly in the ointment. His planned casinos could become money-losing pink elephants... [More]

Frank Fahrenkopf: CEO of the AGA / Loyal Republican

Here's a link to my blog post.

Short summary: Fahrenkopf is about as conservative and right-wing as it is possible to be, and has major ties to the Republican Party elite.

I don't really care about that.

But he's also in charge of the American Gaming Association and their policy of remaining "neutral" on the online gaming issue.

Makes you wonder who is pulling who's strings, doesn't it?

Meet Frank J. Fahrenkopf, Jr.: CEO of the American Gaming Association and Loyal Republican

I've been failing at my task.

As somebody who truly believes that the legalization of online gambling in America would bring a vast number of economic and social benefits, I have made it my goal to spread the word and help bring about that change. Along that line, I hope I have been providing useful information and comment to my readers.

However, one mistake I have made is that I simply haven't been taking the issue seriously enough. It has been a goal, but it hasn't really been a "quest" or a "crusade". And that lack of commitment has kept me from really being effective.

For instance, it has kept me from following the first rule of any basic competition: Know your opponent!

And that is why it was such a surprise to me last night when, while watching the Presidential Debate Pregame Show on CNN, an info bar popped up on the screen saying that the debates were organized by something called the Commission on Presidential Debates, and that the Commission is headed by Frank Fahrenkopf, a former head of the Republican National Committee, and Paul Kirk, a former head of the Democratic National Committee.

"Frank Fahrenkopf?", I said aloud to my wife. "Is that the same guy who is the CEO of the American Gaming Association? It can't be... [More]

Which Candidate Is Best For Me?

While a lot of my posts tend to factor in political themes as a matter of covering this industry, I usually try to generally avoid outright political commentary.

But as we enter the closing weeks of this election season, I can't deny the fact that I receive a lot of comments and questions asking: "I am a sports gambler, which candidate is best for me?"

So here I go...

Let me start by pointing out that in the larger scheme of issues facing America right now, sports gambling seems pretty insignificant right now.

Between the economic crisis and looming recession, the ever-concerning oil situation, the environment, and  - oh yeah - the war in Iraq, I think that basing your vote upon a candidate's position on online gambling would be a little short-sighted.

But we also can not forget that, in these scary economic times, online gambling offers a positive revenue opportunity for government coffers that simply does not exist anywhere else.

In fact, if you are concerned about the economy right now - and who isn't? - then you should be very interested that PriceWaterhouseCoopers has already completed an analysis stating that legalizing and regulating the online gambling industry would increase federal revenues by as much as $42.8 billion over the next few years.

Yes, that is billion, with a "b".

With those numbers in m... [More]