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Uk Companies Hire Us Lobbyists For Online Gambling
Grass Roots Campaign
Educating legislators and the public alike on safe
and secure Internet gambling
The efforts of Congressman Barney Frank and other US politicians
to introduce legalised and regulated online gambling to the United
States (see previous InfoPowa reports) will receive a further boost
this week by the news that two U.K.-based companies are planning
a grassroots campaign in favour of legislation to regulate the multi-billion-dollar
industry.
The Washington publication "The Hill" reports that the
UC Group, a payment-services company with effective technology to
verify the age and geographic location of gamblers, has teamed up
with international accounting firm Baker Tilly to launch the “Safe
and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative” in America.
The companies, which already work to provide back-office and payments
services to Internet businesses in a range of sectors, have hired
lobbying firm Alston & Bird LLP to push the Frank legislation,
introduced last month. Alston & Bird has contracted another
lobbying firm, Downey McGrath Group, to aid in the effort.
“The [Safe and Secure Internet Gambling] Initiative is both
to educate parts of the public as well as to garner grassroots support
from other companies, organizations and individuals for the legislation,”
the initiative’s spokesman, Jeff Sandman of Hyde Park Communications,
said.
Congressman Frank, who is the chairman of the influential House
Financial Services Committee has proposed that a system of licensing
and regulation be introduced, overseen by a unit of the U.S. Treasury,
which would be required to guard against underage and compulsive
gambling as well as money laundering. Individual states, professional
sports leagues and college athletics organisations have the option
of staying out of the regulatory regime in a move seen as necessary
to ease the passage of the bill.
In addition to systems that pinpoint the age and location of bettors,
the UC Group has technology to detect compulsive gambling and money
laundering, making it well suited to flourish under the regulatory
scheme proposed by Frank. The company currently sells such systems
to a number of clients around the world, Sandman said.
The law on online gambling remains murky. A handful of states have
banned online betting in any form. In 2002, a federal appeals court
ruled that it is illegal to transmit information for sports betting
across state lines, but affirmed that federal law does not prohibit
placing online bets on “games of chance.” Meanwhile,
lower courts have ruled that it is illegal to own a sports-betting
operation that caters to U.S. citizens.
Last fall, Congress passed a law barring the use of credit cards
for online bets but exempted horse racing, state lotteries and fantasy
sports.
UC Group has been lobbying Congress on Internet gambling since
the spring of 2005, filings show. Last year, the company submitted
testimony to a House subcommittee on the issue. According to Sandman,
it was among several companies that met with Frank and other members
of Congress to discuss the various safeguards that could be implemented
under regulated online gambling.
A leading international accountancy, Baker Tilly hired Alston &
Bird to lobby on the issue in February. The firm has about 7 000
U.K. clients and boasts more than $2 billion in revenues.
Consumers will be among the primary beneficiaries of regulated
online gambling, Sandman argues. They will have systems
“to make sure that their financial transactions are being
processed safely and securely,” he said.
UC Group and Baker Tilly envision a “comprehensive grassroots
effort” in support of the Frank regulatory regime, and the
companies have set up a website at www.safeandsecureig.com .
The Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative is a company-led
effort in favour of a controversial pastime. That would be a novel
use of grassroots tactics, according to Jeffrey Oldham, a senior
vice president at Direct Impact, a consultancy that specialises
in grassroots mobilization.
“This is the first time I’ve heard of grassroots being
used for a non-traditional issue,” he said. “I think
it will be interesting to see whether members of Congress will listen.”
Congressman Frank has repeatedly said that public support for his
initiative - specifically by US citizens communicating with political
representatives on the issue - is a critical element in his strategy.
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