North America
June 1, 2009
Frank is back with new Web gambling bill
Congressman Barney Frank
has introduced a new and improved bill to license and regulate online gambling
in the United States — one that seeks to remedy the deficiencies in his failed
2007 version by banning most sports betting and outlining more detailed player
protections.
The new bill authorizes the U.S. Treasury to license and regulate
companies to offer Internet gambling services — except on professional and
amateur sports — and takes regulation out of the domain of the Unlawful
Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, which was passed in 2006 by the last
Republican Congress and signed into law by President Bush. UIGEA makes is
illegal for U.S. financial
services providers to process money transactions by U.S. citizens for Web gambling
purposes. Frank’s bill would not repeal UIGEA, but a companion piece of
legislation he has filed would delay its enforcement until Dec. 1, 2010 — a
move he has tried before, unsuccessfully.
As in the old bill, individual states would be allowed to opt out,
and operators would be obliged to install technology to ensure they comply with
state laws.
A third measure introduced by Rep. Jim McDermott (D.-Wash.) would
oblige the newly regulated companies to pay a 2 percent tax on player deposits.
He said his and Frank’s legislation together could raise up to $43 billion in
federal taxes and “additional billions for various state governments” over a
10-year period.
Frank said he intends to see his legislation clear the House Financial
Services Committee, which he chairs, before the August recess. If that happens
it will mark a major improvement over the 2007 bill.
SPORTS BETS, TABLE GAMES AUTHORIZED IN DELAWARE
Delaware
Gov. Jack Markell has signed a bill into law permitting sports betting and
table games at the state’s three racetrack casinos.
Barring complications, of which there might
be a few, it is anticipated that betting will go live by the start of the
National Football League season, and table games, which could include
blackjack, craps, roulette and poker, will be operational by year’s end.
The legislation gives the state Controller General’s Office, the
state Department of Finance and a representative of the racinos, which are
located at Delaware
Park, Dover Downs and
Harrington Raceway, 75 days to agree on regulations for the table games and
what portion of revenue from them will go to the state.
The group also will study whether the state
or the individual casinos should determine or restrict the variety of games to
be offered and the size of bets that can be placed.
The legislation does not specify what form the sports betting will take,
and state officials said they are waiting on word from the Delaware Supreme
Court to determine what types of betting would pass both state and federal
muster.
WYNN, PENN NATIONAL JOIN BIDDING FOR RACINO AT AQUEDUCT
Seven entities, including several major
gambling operators, have entered a new round of bidding for the rights to
develop and operate a casino at Aqueduct Racetrack.
With major budget woes adding fresh momentum to the idea of
legalized gambling in New York City,
the state wants to jump-start the project, which has been on the drawing board
since 2001 and is on its third governor. It stalled again earlier this year
when racetrack and racino operator Delaware North failed to raise a promised
$370 million up-front payment for the 4,500-slot racino in the borough of
Queens.
Delaware North is back in the running. This time the Buffalo,
N.Y.-based company is partnering on a bid with Saratoga Gaming and Raceway, one
of its three New York racinos, and The Peebles Corp., a large
African-American-owned real estate development company, and McKissack &
McKissack, an African-American and woman-owned architecture and design
firm.
Peebles also entered a separate bid, according to news
reports.
The others bidders include Development
Associates, a subsidiary of Steve Wynn’s Wynn Resorts; racetrack and casino
operator Penn National; Manhattan-based SL Green Realty Corp., which had
partnered with Delaware North in a previous round of bidding and is now joined
by Hard Rock Entertainment and Jeff Gural, a Manhattan real estate developer
who operates the upstate harness tracks Tioga Downs and Vernon Downs; and an
entity called Aqueduct Entertainment Group.
The seventh bidder was identified by Gov.
David Paterson’s office as Mohegan Sun, but it wasn’t immediately clear whether
the Connecticut-based casino giant had submitted a formal proposal, according
to a report on BloodHorse.com.
No specifics on the bids had been released by
the Governor’s Office at press time.
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GREAT CANADIAN HIT WITH $2 MILLION LOSS
Great Canadian Gaming
reported a first-quarter loss of $2 million (US$1.74 million) on a 4 percent
decline in revenues to $96.1 million.
The company attributed the drop in business to the economic
downturn, which it said significantly reduced slot play at its British Columbia
and Nova Scotia properties
The results include $11.4 million in restructuring expenses associated
with cost-cutting initiatives. The company said 524 jobs were eliminated during
the period.
The net loss worked out to two cents per share, compared with a profit
of $5.4 million, or six cents per share, in the first quarter of 2008.
CASINO HOPES DASHED IN TEXAS LEGISLATURE
Another
try at bringing casino gambling to Texas
was declared dead last month after a bill to put the issue before the voters
failed to garner enough support in the state House of Representatives.
The measure, authored by Rep. Edmund Kuempel,
who had to be hospitalized last month after he collapsed in an elevator in the
Capitol building in Austin,
sought to amend the state Constitution by plebiscite to allow resort-style
casinos at horse and greyhound tracks and on Indian lands.
The bill’s demise spells an end to longstanding efforts by the
Tigua Tribe to revive gambling at its Speaking Rock Casino, which was closed by
judicial order in 2001 in response to a lawsuit by then-state Attorney General
John Cornyn.
Rep. Norma Chávez, a staunch supporter of the
tribe, said that charity gaming bills still working through the Legislature
remain a possibility for the Tiguas, but their hopes for a casino will have to
wait until the Legislature reconvenes in 2011.
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