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Opposition grows to US online gaming ban |
27/04/2007 |
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Andrew Clark in
New York
Democrats in the US
Congress have begun a campaign to repeal America's controversial ban on
internet gambling which plunged the gaming industry into crisis last year and
prompted the arrest of several British executives.
Barney Frank, the
chairman of the House financial services committee, introduced a bill yesterday
to legalise online betting, citing its economic benefits and personal freedom.
"Adults, in their own homes, should be able to engage in a form of
activity they enjoy and which has no conceivable negative effect on anybody
else," Mr Frank told a press conference.
His proposal would allow gambling companies to
take bets from US citizens online as long as they implemented safeguards for
compulsive gamblers or children. It envisages a licensing regime allowing the
US government to collect tax on bets. Investment firm Friedman Billings Ramsay
has estimated that taxing online betting could raise $20bn over five years for
the US treasury.
Pressure is mounting on the US government over the
issue. The World Trade Organisation ruled last month that the ban was illegal
because certain domestic activities, including horseracing, were exempt, making
it discriminatory against foreign companies. That could help the
former Betonsports boss David Carruthers, who has been under house arrest in
Missouri since last summer pending charges of running an illegal gambling
racket. According to court documents, the judge in the case, Mary Ann Medler,
has offered Mr Carruthers' lawyers the opportunity to use the ruling to argue
for dismissal of the case.
Mr Carruthers, who is Scottish, was arrested
while changing planes in the US during a trip to Costa Rica.
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