Was U.S. Enforcement After Wrong Industry?

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Thursday, January 31, 2008 mgowanbo.cc

While enormous energy was poured into online gambling, Wall Street was generating the sub-prime mortgage crisis

Interesting read for the week for mgowanbo.cc was an op-ed article at the Covers.com website.

http://www.covers.com/articles/articles.aspx?theArt=159508&t=0

In it the author suggests that US officialdom pursuing online gambling bans and respectable businessmen like David Carruthers and Peter Dicks may have been better deployed policing the financial infrastructure and the sub-prime mortgage strategies that have impacted so severely on the USA and the world economy.

It's an interesting perspective on a major problem.

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Big Tax Bucks For USA If Gambling Legalised

Friday, February 01, 2008 mgowanbo.cc

New tax estimates prepared by international professional services group

The United States could benefit to the tune of between $8.7 billion and $42.8 billion in federal tax revenues over the first ten years of a regulation and licensing approach rather than one of prohibition, says a new study carried out by the independent business services group PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The findings of the analysis were provided to all members of Congress by Representative Jim McDermott (D-WA earlier this week in support of his proposal to license, tax and regulate US online gambling along the lines suggested by Congressman Barney Frank.

Urging his fellow Congressman to support Internet gambling regulation rather than prohibition, Representative McDermott said this week:  "Before us is a tremendous opportunity to protect consumers and recoup billions of dollars that should be collected by the Internal Revenue Service. These are revenues that are desperately needed, given that we are at war and face difficulty financing the nation's priorities."

McDermott introduced the Internet Gambling Regulation and Tax Enforcement Act (H.R. 2607), which seeks to tax regulated Internet gambling.

"To be clear, these are not mostly new taxes - the bulk of the revenues generated would come from taxes required under existing law," said McDermott.  "This is simply a framework to collect taxes on existing activity that is currently unregulated, unsupervised, and underground."

The current US government approach, prohibiting Internet gambling through the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), has proved to be a failure, McDermott claimed.

Notwithstanding the UIGEA prohibition, millions of Americans are still able to gamble online.  In addition, proposed rules by the Treasury Department to implement the current prohibitions have been severely criticised by many parties, including the American Bankers Association, Credit Union National Association, Financial Services Roundtable, and other leading financial services companies and groups.

"Instead of this ineffective attempt to prevent adults from gambling over the Internet, we need a more sensible approach to protect consumers and ensure that revenues that now flow offshore stay here in the U.S. and are therefore subject to taxation," added McDermott. "A new, safer, more sensible approach is needed to regulate Internet gambling and protect consumers."

McDermott's legislation functions as a companion bill to the Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act (H.R. 2046), legislation introduced by Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA) which would establish a licensing and enforcement framework for regulated Internet gambling in the U.S.  The legislation would allow States to retain full control over the regulation of Internet gambling within their borders, applying additional taxes, protections and limitations as determined necessary and appropriate.

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U.S. World Trade Organisation Woes Mount

Friday, February 01, 2008 mgowanbo.cc

Now Costa Rica joins Antigua in requesting a new arbitration on US online gambling dispute

The Central American nation of Costa Rica has joined Antigua in its fight for compensation following the unilateral withdrawal by the United States of its World Trade Organisation commitments on gambling.

Host to a number of online gambling companies, which make an important contribution to its economy, Costa Rica has joined Antigua in separately filing for World Trade Organisation (WTO) arbitration, seeking compensation from the United States as a result of the U.S. withdrawal of its commitment on cross-border gambling services.

The new arbitration requests could potentially derail the settlement for compensation agreed to late last year between the U.S. and the European Union, because the arbitration filing makes it possible for the E.U. to reconsider its settlement with the U.S. and join the arbitration proceeding, opening up a new phase in the Internet gambling trade dispute.

The EU deal with the US has been the cause of some controversy due to its lack of direct tangible benefits to online gambling companies damaged by the US decision.

"The decision by Antigua and Costa Rica to take the United States to arbitration will test the limits of the WTO process and squarely challenge the U.S. resolve to withdraw its GATS commitments," said Nao Matsukata, formerly Director of Policy Planning for US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick and now a Senior Advisor for Alston and Bird LLP.

"If the U.S. finds the decision of the WTO arbitrator unacceptable, under procedures outlined in the General Agreement on Trade and Services, it could unilaterally withdraw, creating an unprecedented crisis of confidence in the global trading system.

"The best solution remains for the US Congress to pass legislation that would create a legal and regulated framework for online gaming in the United States and for the United States to remain in the GATs schedule to provide all providers legal protection under the WTO."

U.S. withdrawal from GATS following this new arbitration carries the risk of expensive new sanctions levied against U.S. exports and intellectual property. "If the U.S. withdraws following another adverse arbitral decision, the country would face potential retaliation from all WTO Members affected by the arbitration, a pool of countries including the EU, Canada, and Japan," added Matsukata.

"Inviting sanctions at a time when both the U.S. Administration and Congress are both striving to stimulate an economy on the edge of recession seems foolhardy at best, especially when draft domestic legislation already exists that would create a renewed flow of both business and tax revenues throughout the nation's gaming sectors."

Lode Van Den Hende, a W.T.O. expert and trade attorney with Herbert Smith in Brussels said, "There is a real possibility that the WTO arbitration body will find that unless the U.S. provides commercially meaningful compensation to Costa Rica and Antigua, it cannot withdraw its commitment on gambling, without risking trade sanctions from the affected parties."

Costa Rica's action raises questions about what India and Macao might do as the other nations that have yet to come to terms with the U.S. over the withdrawal of the Article XXI commitment related to cross-border gambling services.

Under the WTO's GATS Article XXI rules, any country withdrawing its market access must provide compensation to affected countries that maintains a general level of mutually advantageous commitments not less favorable to trade than that provided for in schedules of specific commitments prior to the negotiations. The U.S. negotiated settlements with four of the eight nations seeking compensation - the E.U., Japan, Canada, and Australia, providing compensation, in the form of markets access to U.S. domestic postal services, warehousing, R & D, and technical testing sectors.

Costa Rica, Macao, India and Antigua did not reach an agreement with the U.S. over the withdrawal of its gambling commitment, as the above market sectors offered by the U.S. were of no commercial interest to those countries.

The pressure group Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative opines that it is possible that these arbitration requests will impact the way in which Antigua decides to implement the $21 million per year in trade sanctions it received as compensation for U.S. noncompliance with WTO rulings in the gambling dispute.  An option available is for the country to take the compensation in the form of intellectual property waivers.

"It is time for the U.S. to end its hypocritical practices that discriminate against foreign online gambling operators, while allowing U.S. gambling operators to accept bets for certain forms of gambling," said Jeffrey Sandman, spokesperson for the Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative.  "Regulation of Internet gambling should be supported as a means to resolve this trade dispute."

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Sportsbetting A Challenge For U.S. Tax Man

2008.02.02 mgowanbo.cc 博彩518

This weekend an estimated 50 percent of adult Americans will bet on the Superbowl...

With the biggest betting event on the American sports calendar - the Superbowl - due to take place this Sunday, Fox Business published a well researched article on tax liability for gamblers and examined the online gambling phenomenon that has changed the industry so much over the past decade.

http://www.foxbusiness.com:80/personal-finance/lifestyle-money/travel-lifestyle/article/safe-bet-irs-wont-gambling-winnings_461643_22.html poses the question of how the IRS can harvest taxes in the present American legislative regime which appears to regard online gambling as illegal, yet pervasive.

"All these Super Bowl wagers spotlight a persistent Internal Revenue Service problem: tracking and taxing gambling winnings," opines the author of the article, which covers much of the development and current issues surrounding online offshore betting.

"It's a challenge the agency faces daily, because many people don't realize that gambling winnings are taxable. Of those who do, a good portion simply choose to ignore the law."

Nowadays, in addition to the well-publicised offerings of Las Vegas, Reno and Atlantic City, betting is commonplace throughout the United States. The choices range from off-track betting parlors to tribal bingo games to riverboat casinos to state-operated lotteries.

Then there's online gaming. A June 1999 Washington Post article reported "...at least 140 Web sites now offer some form of wagering to online users - an expansion in recent years that has alarmed opponents and put increased focus on the laws that govern Internet gambling."

By 2005, research firm Christiansen Capital Advisors estimated that nearly 23 million people gambled on the internet, with approximately 8 million of those gamblers from the United States. And recent legislation aimed at disrupting financial transactions with online gambling companies to halt the pastime in favour of more conventional gambling channels may have slowed the industry down, but have not terminated it.

The article takes a tilt at the regulations that are supposed to give teeth to the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, reporting that U.S. officials are just getting around to creating these rules. The Treasury Department and Federal Reserve Board issued a first draft last October. The comment period ended in mid-December, with most finding the proposed rules wanting.

"A common problem cited by reviewers was the vagueness of what constitutes gambling. Many noted that various U.S. governments, federal as well as many states, recognize and even support or operate gambling enterprises, ranging from state lotteries to tribal casinos.

"And as the international legal and domestic regulatory wrangling continues, online gambling sites and their cyberpatrons are adapting. Some sites have introduced dedicated debit cards and alternative, although circuitous, e-payment and electronic wallet services. It's a good bet that millions of U.S. customers will be utilizing them Super Bowl Sunday, the biggest global betting day of the year."

The author observes that betting on sporting events has arguably become the true national pastime. But if you want to keep your sports wagering [US] domestic, legal betting on athletic events is allowed only in Nevada, where in 2006, visitors to Vegas spent $10.6 billion on gambling, ranging from casino games to bets on professional and collegiate competitions.

The Super Bowl is the single biggest one-day sports betting event of the year. Worldwide, over 200 million individuals are expected to wager more than $10 billion on Super Bowl XLII. In the United States, Pregame.com president RJ Bell expects "over 50 percent of all adult Americans will risk money on Super Bowl XLII."

The greater-than-usual interest, says Bell, comes from having a team seeking a perfect record facing a team from New York, the nation's No. 1 market. That's likely to set a betting record of more than $100 million in Nevada alone; the record is $94.5 million for Steelers-Seahawks in January 2006.

And that brings us back to online sportsbetting : It's a difficult tax-collection proposition when it comes to bets placed at increasingly popular offshore sports-betting operations, dollars dropped into friendly office pools and illegal wagers handled by bookies. These bets, according to the American Gaming Association, represent more than 99 percent of all sports betting nationwide.

The National Gambling Impact Study Commission estimates that translates to as much as $380 billion annually in illegal wagers.

Legal betting operations - state lotteries, casinos and horse racing tracks - are regulated. One of the government agencies that has a say in these operations is the IRS. "That's why the bells go off when you hit the slots," says John Shelk, a former executive with the American Gaming Association. "So someone can get there to get your tax information."

In some cases, Uncle Sam even gets his cut (25 percent on most winnings) before you get your payout. That's the case for winnings of more than $5 000 from any sweepstakes, wagering pool or lottery; withholding also is collected on proceeds that are 300 times or more the amount of the bet. Gambling winnings from bingo, keno and the slots are not generally subject to withholding, but you're still required to provide your tax ID. If you refuse, the casino can assess backup withholding of your jackpot at a 28-percent rate.

And beginning this March [2008], the IRS will require all poker tournament sponsors to report US tournament winnings of more than $5 000. The new reporting requirement (Rev. Proc. 2007-57), aimed at poker tournament sponsors, including casinos, will help the IRS ensure that card game winners are including their winnings on their annual tax returns.

Those poker tourney winnings, along with your jackpots from the casino or horse track or lottery dealer, will be recorded on a Form W-2G showing how much you won and how much, if any, was withheld for federal taxes. And like all other income reporting forms, a copy will go to the IRS.

But, Shelk notes, there's a distinction between what's reportable and what's taxable.

All gambling winnings -- regardless of the amount -- are taxable. But it's ultimately the winner's responsibility to let the IRS know how much was won, even if the casino doesn't have to file a W-2G. This reliance on the gambler's tax-law compliance is where the IRS frequently gets shortchanged.

How tempting is it to assume the IRS won't miss a small jackpot?

IRS analysis of 2005 returns, the latest year for which data are complete, shows 1.8 million taxpayers reported almost $25 billion in gambling income; compared to 2004, that's a slight increase (5.8 percent) in the number of returns reporting gambling income and an almost 9 percent hike in dollars won. This includes winnings from casinos and horse tracks, lottery and raffle jackpots, as well as the fair market value of cars, houses and other non-cash prizes.

Asked by Fox Business how many taxpayers didn't bare all about their betting at tax time, the IRS had no answer. "We can't tell you what we don't know," a spokesman said.

The IRS has a tax break for conscientious taxpayers who report their gambling income on line 21 of their Form 1040. They can subtract any gambling losses from winnings if they itemize. For many, that's a good deal. Just over 1 million gamblers in 2005 made their good luck less taxing by claiming slightly more than $16 billion in bad bets.

Losses to reduce gambling winnings don't have to be from the same game. If you go to the race track every weekend and drop $1 000 but then win $3 000 on the World Series, those losing horse betting slips can reduce the amount of baseball winnings on which you'll owe tax.

But you can't claim more in losses than you've won. And, as with any tax deduction, you need to keep records of your losses that will satisfy the IRS if you're ever audited.

"Your best bet is to keep track of gambling losses as you go through the year so you're not scrambling to reconstruct them if you do hit it big," advises the Fox Business writer.

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U.S. Politicians Stand On Internet Gambling

2008.02.02 mgowanbo.cc

Poker Players' Alliance gives a little guidance to US voters

With next week's crunch "Super Tuesday" primary nomination voting due in an extraordinarily competitive and intense US presidential election run-up, the Poker Players' Alliance pressure group gave players a snapshot of the attitudes toward online poker of the leading candidates.

Executive Director John Pappas sent out 300 000 emails Friday addressed to PPA members resident in those states that will be voting come Tuesday to select Republican and Democrat candidates.

On the Democrat side, the leading contenders look to be Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, and the PPA take on these candidates is as follows:

Clinton has recently said that she supports the industry’s position: to study Internet gambling to see whether it can be fairly regulated so that individuals can safely participate in it and American businesses can compete in the international market.

Pappas later expanded on this with a PocketFives webmaster, observing that Clinton’s willingness to study the issue "...is something we won’t frown upon. The PPA’s position has always been that a study is nice, but regulation is better. Other countries have gone down the path of regulation and so there really isn’t that much to study. The reality is that politicians like to point to something as a reason to support it. Clinton’s study could be what they need to support regulation.”

Barack Obama also supports the idea of a proper and unbiased study, but has been quoted by the Las Vegas Sun as saying that he worries that the Internet is ‘a Wild West of illegal activity.’ But he supports a study of Internet gambling and supports regulation to address the worst abuses.

Pappas points out, “One of the interesting things is that he’s a renowned poker player. He was known to play in regular games when he served in State Legislature in Illinois. From my understanding, he still plays and still enjoys the challenge of the game. There’s an opportunity to have him understand the difference between poker and gaming against the house. The latter seems to be where his concerns with gambling have been.”

Turning to the Republicans, The PPA has a somewhat wider choice and studies the positions of Mike Huckabee, John McCain and Mitt Romney.

Mike Huckabee, a former governor of Arkansas, has the most negative views towards online gambling of any Presidential candidate, the PPA email observes. His response to a questionnaire from the National Coalition Against Legalized Gambling is highlighted: “Last year, Congress voted overwhelmingly to criminalize most forms of Internet gambling. This year some members of Congress are promoting legislation to legalize Internet gambling. If such legislation passed, would you veto it? Huckabee answered ‘yes.’”

Although Huckabee has an evangelical background which is not known for accepting gambling, Pappas believes that in politics changes are possible when voter trends indicate a need for same.

"Politicians change their minds as the political winds blow," says Pappas. "As the PPA grows in power and people begin going to the polls caring about this issue, viewpoints can change.”

Arizona Senator John McCain recently picked up a personal endorsement from PPA Chairman Alfonse D’Amato. The former Senator from New York knows McCain well. The PPA feels that McCain is on the fence on online gambling: “The New Hampshire Republican primary winner does not have a specific position on Internet poker, but does appear to have been influenced by his fellow Arizona Senator Jon Kyl, who is a vigorous opponent of our rights. McCain, however, has always been willing to consider both sides of an issue and may simply need to know how strongly PPA members feel.”

Pappas says: "I can only hope that, should McCain be elected, we’d have some insight into his thought process. If you have someone that’s on the fence on your issue, then what better way to educate him than to surround him with people that understand the benefits of regulation, like D’Amato? We have a great open door to be able to engage him on the issue.”

Finally, Mitt Romney, a former governor of Massachusetts lacks a “formal position” on online poker, and according to the PPA he “...has contorted his issue positions wildly in a bid to gain support from social conservatives. As part of that effort, Romney tapped Tom Coates, Vice President, Truth About Gambling, Iowa, to his ‘Faith and Values Steering Committee.’ Coates, in turn, is vigorously opposed to gaming of any sort.”

Pappas again notes that changes in political positions are not unusual if voter demands need to be met, especially at this stage of the primaries. “The idea that a candidate has a values committee isn’t unusual, either. There’s a certain segment of the population that is evangelical. Many Republicans are going to cater to that to gain the party’s nomination. It’s difficult to nail down a candidate’s position until we figure out who our final two candidates are. Right now, the nominating process is about pandering to special interests.”

The PPA's strongest advice is to get out and vote if you are in a state that holds a primary on Super Tuesday. February 5th is an important day in the run-up to a crucial US election, and voters have an obligation to make their preferences known.

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WTO Deal A U.S. National Security Threat??

Wednesday, February 06, 2008 mgowanbo.cc

USTR declines to release details of US-EU deal in WTO dispute

The online sportsbetting information site 911 reports a shocking reaction from US government employees to a request for detail on the recently brokered US-European Union deal on compensation for the withdrawal of US WTO gambling agreements.

Headed appropriately "National Security Is Whatever We Say It Is," the report details the experiences of freelance journalist Ed Brayton, who pursued details of the compensation deal with the EU, Japan and Canada to write an article on the issue.

"What concessions did the U.S. make so its government could keep restricting the rights of its citizens to play poker online? And how much would those concessions cost those citizens who were having their freedom constrained?" he asked after the US Trade Representative spokesperson refused to be drawn on the details.

Determined to get his story, Brayton filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for a copy of the agreement.

This was refused, and the explanation for this was that the information was "classified!"

The astonishing response from the US Trade Representative's office informed Brayton: "Please be advised that the document you seek is being withheld in full pursuant to 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(1), which pertains to information that is properly classified in the interest of national security pursuant to Executive Order 12958."

Brayton is critical of the government's refusal to be forthcoming on such sweeping grounds, saying: "Yes, the United States government is claiming that its attempt to restrict Americans from gambling online is so important that their efforts are a matter of national security. And that whatever under-the-table deals they make that might cost taxpayers billions of dollars can be classified and hidden from public scrutiny as if they were nuclear launch codes.

"Americans, according to this administration, have no right to know how many billions of our tax dollars they've spent with no legislative authorization whatsoever in order to buy the cooperation of other nations and allow them to continue to violate the rights of American adults by preventing them from gambling in the privacy of their own home."

The journalist is currently filing an appeal against the arbitrary decision.

The US-EU deal could be revisited, according to reports last week that Costa Rica and Antigua have separately filed for World Trade Organization (WTO) arbitration, seeking compensation from the United States as a result of the U.S. withdrawal of its commitment on cross-border gambling services.

The new arbitration requests could potentially derail the settlement for compensation agreed to late last year by the U.S. and the E.U, because the new filings make it possible for the E.U. to reconsider its unpopular settlement with the U.S. and join the arbitration proceeding, opening up a new phase in the Internet gambling trade dispute.

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Highlighting The U.S. Online Gambling Ban

2008年2月12日周二 mgowanbo.cc

Harvard professor speaks at London seminar organised by the Institute of Economic Affairs

The highly controversial discriminatory U.S. ban online gambling financial transactions, and its implications for free trade and Internet freedom will be highlighted today (Tuesday) by Harvard Law School Professor Charles Nesson at a seminar sponsored by the Institute of Economic Affairs in London.

Professor Nesson, a tenured faculty member at Harvard for more than three decades and the founder of the Global Poker Strategic Thinking Society (GPSTS), will be joined at the seminar by Dr. Sallie James, a Policy Analyst at the Centre for Trade Policy Studies and the Cato Institute, and Lode Van Den Hende, a Senior Associate of Herbert Smith LLP, based in Brussels, specializing in E.U. competition and regulation. The seminar will be chaired by John Blundell, the Director General and Ralph Harris Fellow of the IEA.

The Seminar, "The Bush Administration's Criminalisation of Online Gaming and the Implication for Global Free Trade," is sponsored by one of the oldest and preeminent British think-tanks advocating Free Trade and classical Liberal policies, the Institute of Economic Affairs, which has a longstanding interest in government policy towards online gaming.

The ongoing W.T.O. dispute between the U.S., the E.U. and several nations has taken a new turn following a Trade Barrier Regulation complaint filed against the U.S. by the Remote Gambling Association, Europe's leading trade association of online gaming operators.

The European Commission has until February 29 to respond to the complaint, which alleges that the U.S. protects domestic online operators while prohibiting non-U.S. operators.

Professor Nesson said: "The conflict between the U.S. government and the online community over online poker and other forms of betting will not go away. There is growing concern about its impact on global trade, domestic U.S. law, and Internet freedom and regulation."

Among the topics seminar speakers will address are:

The complaint filed by the Remote Gambling Association in December 2007 with the European Commission against the U.S. for discrimination based on violations of W.T.O. rules, asserting that the U.S. Department of Justice is in violation of international law by threatening and pressing criminal prosecutions and other actions against foreign online gaming operators while allowing domestic U.S. gaming operators to flourish.

The implications for the global trade system, should an affirmative finding for Europe be produced by February 29, 2008 deadline.

The potential for Costa Rica's January 28, 2008 filing for W.T.O. arbitration against the U.S. to upset the agreement between in U.S. and the E.U.

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UIGEA Failing To Stop Action In Costa Rica

2008年2月14日周四 mgowanbo.cc

ESPN takes a look at a betting market that continues to prosper from US action

ESPN award winning writer Paul Moran provided our read for the week with his insightful article on the failure of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act to stop betting on US events through Costa Rica online companies.

"While opposition to Internet gambling in all its various forms in the U.S. has come primarily from the conservative Christian right, the Costa Rican government, never an institution that has sought to legislate morality, has facilitated the industry's grown by providing fertile ground," Moran opines.

He goes on to describe typically nondescript office buildings in San Jose "....with roomsful of computers and telephone operators as well as tiny offices in private residences, [where] more than 200 Internet gaming enterprises are doing a brisk business with players of every persuasion in virtually every corner of the earth but primarily the United States, despite the best efforts of government to thwart wagering in cyberspace."

The article concentrates on horse racing action, revealing that wherever horses are running in the U.S., if a video feed is available, betting action will be accommodated by these offshore companies in the style of the traditional backroom bookmaker.

"Two clerks conduct business from cash drawers, the contents mostly American currency, which management prefers to the Costa Rican colone," Moran reports.  "The races come via balky streaming video with eight televisions dedicated to whatever happens to be going on at the moment in the United States. The place is most lively on NFL Sundays and during the March NCAA basketball tournament. The racing business picks up on weekends and big days."

Moran writes that the U.S. ban on financial transactions with online gambling companies has done little to curtail the activity of American professional horseplayers who operate at a level at which the rebates of up to 5 percent offered by off-shore enterprises are meaningful at the bottom line. Efforts to stem the flow of money to offshore accounts amount only to inconvenience.

Some [land] racing associations have taken meaningful financial hits by closing U.S. pari-mutuel pools to off-shore sources of revenue - rebate shops, as they were known - that once were permitted to co-mingle handle, losing simulcast fees as well as portion of the takeout.

Describing the ease with which Costa Rica betting companies can be set up, Moran reveals that it costs less than $10 000 in government fees to launch an online gaming venture. In the other popular locations for such enterprises, primarily in the Caribbean, official start-up fees can run as much as $250 000 plus substantial annual fees.

The regional telephone system, Internet infrastructure and no shortage of educated, multilingual employees are positive factors for a new operator looking to set up a Costa Rica business, he says. While larger companies are typically located in downtown office buildings and are believed to be handling as much as $15 million a month in sports, racing and other activity, primarily online poker, smaller one-room enterprises are said to be handling about $100 000 per month. The online wagering industry employs about 3 000 people in the Central American country.

Moran makes the startling disclosure that the New York Racing Association estimated it lost $50 million in annual handle when it severed relationships with offshore simulcast outlets a few years ago. Although there is no way to determine the volume of money wagered in Costa Rica on US horse racing, it is known that most of the total betting handle comes from American players to whom rebates are meaningful enticement, he observes.

"This is money, serious money that, were Internet wagering expanded, regulated and taxed in the United States, would make a substantial difference to the bottom line of the racing industry as well as several levels of government," Moran concludes. "So, who needs money?"

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U.S. Casino Exec Critical Of U.K. Government

2008年2月14日周四 mgowanbo.cc

"If we'd have known the game was stacked against us, we wouldn't have wasted jet fuel going over there."

The surprise about-turn of the UK Labour government on supercasinos for the British Isles was strongly criticised this week by a Las Vegas Sands Inc executive, who revealed that his company is no longer interested in running any casinos in Britain after the government there scaled back its plan to open a supercasino in Manchester.

"We spent a lot of time with the folks there (in Britain), trying to figure out how to do a larger style of gaming," said William Weidner, Chief Operating Officer of Las Vegas Sands, at the Reuters Travel and Leisure Summit in Los Angeles. "That didn't work. Mr Brown pretty well shut that down."

Earlier this month, Prime Minister Gordon Brown pulled the plug on plans to build a Las Vegas-style supercasino in Manchester, after calling for a review of the idea last year.

The well-publicised decision, following months of campaigning against the casino by religious leaders and others, is expected to be announced in Parliament next week.

Brown's government is still expected to give the go-ahead for 16 smaller casinos across the country, but bidding for contracts to run those would not likely interest big U.S. gambling companies, Weidner said.

"The home team won. The operators there in the UK worked the system very well, so they ended up with what they wanted, what I would consider to be sub-optimal, lousy little casinos that kept them in the game and kept us out," said Weidner.

U.S. companies like Las Vegas Sands, Harrah's Entertainment and MGM Mirage have transformed Las Vegas in the last 10 years with a series of enormous and progressively more glitzy casino resorts, and are attempting the same in the Asian gambling enclave of Macau.

The smaller casinos now envisaged in Britain would not be large enough to appeal to the big U.S. operators, said Weidner, and would be better suited to local operators such as Gala Coral and Rank Group.

"And so they have the worst of all worlds - now they have casinos that won't drive visitors in from further away and they'll just have larger places that take more of the money off the local people," said Weidner.

"If we'd have known the game was stacked against us, we wouldn't have wasted jet fuel going over there," he added.