Speaking at the Global Gaming Expo, Terry Lanni, Chief Executive of MGM Mirage, said the UIGE Act makes no sense and it won\’t work. Lanni also urged the new Democratic leadership to introduce a study on the feasibility of regulating and taxing online betting in the US.
“We think it can be taxed, we think it can be regulated, we think it can be licensed,” Lanni said. “With the new leadership, with the Democrats winning the House and the Senate, we think we\’re going to have a much better opportunity to do that.”
In separate news, the Poker Players Alliance released the results of a survey claiming that the poker players\’ votes at the mid-term elections helped in the defeat of 30-year House legislator Rep. Jim Leach.
“Our members and other poker players went to the polls. They influenced the federal election,” said PPA President Michael Bolcerek. “In the next 12 months we\’re confident that we\’ll get a study commission bill. We think an exemption is in order, as well.”
Thomas Riehle of RT Strategies said there is enough evidence to suggest that Leach\’s role in supporting the anti-gambling legislation didn\’t help him to get re-elected.
Elsewhere, ScanSafe released its latest Global Threat Report on Web and instant messaging, spyware and Web viruses. Among the report’s key findings, the company saw a 40 per cent increase in US-based requests for gambling-related web pages, despite the fact that on October 13 President Bush signed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act into law.
“Given the recent U.S. legislation, we had anticipated a drop in visits to gambling sites,” said Dan Nadir of ScanSafe. “However, we actually saw an increase in Web requests from the U.S. for online gambling sites.”
Nadir added: “This could have been compounded by gamblers looking to register with alternative providers before further regulations clarifying the Act are put into place.”
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