The NFL reaches a new low

Here's something that slipped under the radar last week, an excellent column by Tim Dahlberg of the Associated Press. Y'know, I completely forgot that the AP was still around, but I guess writers like Dahlberg are still trying to stay relevant by, well, staying relevant.

Anyway, in the above column, Dahlberg clearly outlines NFL's latest foray into hypocrisy - and this one doesn't even pass the laugh test.

The National Football League, which has very publicly adopted a self-appointed role as the scourge of all things gambling, has now licensed it's logos to appear on scratch-n-lose lottery tickets.

That's right. The NFL, which has aligned itself with anti-gambling organizations as Focus on the Family in the past, is now going to be getting a commission on the sales of NFL-licensed lottery tickets.

But without even cracking a smile, the NFL is still organizing a lobby effort to put a halt to Delaware's plans to allow betting on sports.

See. This is the type of crap that really drives me insane.

But other than Dahlberg, it doesn't seem like anybody in the mass media has noticed this completely indefensible act of hypocrisy by the NFL.

But there is one small bright spot here. ... [More]

New online gambling legislation introduced... here are the details

Well, it took long enough, but it's finally here.

On Wednesday, we finally saw the introduction of some long-promised online gambling legislation... but it just wasn't the legislation we were expecting.

It was actually much, much more, and not necessarily in a good way.

For the last few months, we've been expecting and waiting for Barney Frank's bill to overturn the much-despised UIGEA, and that's what we were waiting for on Wednesday.

Instead, we were treated to two different pieces of legislation from Barney Frank, as well as a companion piece  by Rep. Jim McDermott.

So, let's go through these bills, shall we? I'll even issue my own arbitrary Pass / Fail judgement for each.

Bill: Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act
Sponsor: Barney Frank

It starts out with a few pages describing how established gambling and online gambling already are in America, and how there is a need for regulation in order to protect customers and children.

OK, good so far.

Then, after some of the usual legalese, we get to the basic outline for a licensing program for operators, which are sufficiently vague enough to probably eliminate most, if not all, current offshore operators.

This is not so good if you are a fan of ... [More]

Barney Frank's Legislation Coming Next Week

Barney Frank is a busy guy, and he looks to get even busier.

As Chairman of the House of Representatives Financial Services Committee, Frank is right in the middle of the financial crisis, so he can be forgiven for the repeated delays in his long-promised bill to overturn the much-hated and useless UIGEA.

But the delay may finally be coming to an and.

Frank was speaking today at the Reuters Global Financial Regulation Summit and when asked about his planned bill he said, "We'll be introducing it next week and I plan to move on it."

Things are about to get interesting.

With the economy in tatters and the financial industry being particularly hard-hit, it would seem to make sense to repeal a law that handcuffs financial institutions with ridiculous and unclear enforcement duties.

Furthermore, overturning this bill would please America's allies, such as the UK, who has been complaining about how the UIGEA is contradictory to WTO regulations.

So, this should be a slam-dunk, right?

Not so fast.

As far as I can tell, Frank's planned legislation sounds like a simple overturning of the UIGEA, and does not include any plans... [More]

Greater Evil: Gambling or the Markets

Here are a few business news stories...

Bloomberg.com - December 31, 2008 - "Journal of a Plague Year: Faith in Markets Cracks Under Losses"

"It has been a year of record misery: the largest bankruptcy, bank failure and Ponzi scheme in U.S. history; $720 billion in writedowns and losses by financial institutions; $30.1 trillion in market valuation wiped out."

Timesonline.co.uk - February 11, 2009 - "Global stock market losses total $21 trillion"

"When equities bottomed on 21 November 2008, the MSCI World index had fallen 55 per cent since 31 October 2007. This worked out at a global loss of $21 trillion, or $ 21,000 for every individual in the developed world."

Foxbusiness.com - March 09, 2009 - "Internet Gambling Yield Passes US$20bn: Online Gambling Shows Resilience in Face of Recession"

"The total global interactive gross gambling yield surpassed US$ 20bn for 200... [More]

USTR Nominee Might Approve Online Gambling

President Obama's nominee for the office of US Trade Representative, Ron Kirk, seems to have already painted himself into an online casino corner.

No sooner had he agreed to pay his back taxes - I didn't realize there was a choice - than Kirk stated in his confirmation hearing that the Obama administration wanted to ensure "the strongest possible enforcement" of trading rules.

Hmmmmmm. That should spell good news for online gambling, no?

After all, the WTO has already ruled that the USA is violating international trade rules with regards to its stance against online gambling.

Now to be fair, when Kirk made these comments it was in the context of trade deals with Asian countries and not in respect to online gambling.

But if the Obama Administration truly wants to be viewed by the world as a principled and honest government, well, then it can not pick and choose which trading rules it wants to enforce.

No, it would have to follow ALL of the rules.

And that means that A... [More]

Marketing Online Gambling to Politicians

HEY AMERICA! Looking for a SURE-FIRE way to fight the RECESSION BLUES?

Why not take a look at the HOTTEST TREND IN EUROPEAN BUDGET FASHION?

ONLINE GAMBLING!

STOP relying on FLAWED PRODUCTS like ECONOMIC STIMULUS PLANS* or COMPLICATED FINANCIAL BAILOUTS  to clean up your MESSY BANKING SPILLS and LEAKING BUDGET PLANS!
 
Those just get STOLEN, EMBEZZLED OR DIVIDENDED to RICH FAT-CAT CEOs!

NO MORE BREAKING INTERNATIONAL TRADE RULINGS, that just throw INTERNATIONAL TREATIES INTO QUESTION, while RUINING YOUR COUNTRY'S REPUTATION!

SMART EUROPEAN JURISDICTIONS have an additional tool in their belts... And that is REVENUE FROM LEGAL AND REGULATED ONLINE GAMBLING!

But don't take our word for it... Listen to the ISLE OF MAN!

Isle of Man: "I love ONLINE GAMBLING! I used to be a forgotten little piece of rock in the Irish Sea who was only known for mustaches and being the birthplace of the Bee Gees. Then I found out about ONLINE GAMBLING!

Now, despite the world being mired in a RECESSION, I can still table a ... [More]

Could the world be flat in Kentucky?

It's been a while since I've blogged, so forgive me.

The worst part about taking time off from blogging is knowing how to get back started. If a story breaks during your hiatus, then you are torn between re-hashing old news or looking like you missed the story completely. At least I've been helped by the fact that the last month has been a generally slow time for news surrounding the online gaming industry.

The biggest news of the last month has generally been coming out of two issues...

The settlement between the DoJ and PartyPoker founder Anurag Dikshit, and the seemingly never-ending saga  in Kentucky regarding the domain seizures.

Since I've already discussed the Dikshit situation, I should probably forget about it for now, although I must admit that I love typing the word "Dikshit".

Dikshit. Dikshit. Dikshit.

OK, that's enough. Let's jump right into the Kentucky story, shall we?

In case you were not aware, it all started back in September when the governor of the backwards state of Kentucky decided that he was also the governor of the Internet. Without any provocation, he filed a legal request to ... [More]