The supreme court of Delaware has determined that the new sport betting law does not violate the Constitution, and paved the way for sports betting in the State as early as September, becoming one of four states exempted for a nationwide sport betting ban.
The supreme court of Delaware has stated the the sport betting law signed by Governor Jack Markell is approved under the rules of the constitution. In a 22 pages ruling, the court said that the constitution allows lottery’s with an element of skill, as long as chance is the predominant factor in the outcome of the game. “I am very pleased with the Supreme Court’s decision. This decision resolves the legal issues that have been presented and provides a solid legal framework for our sports lottery.” Said Markell, who depends on the lottery to provide revenue to clear his 600 million dollar revenue shortfall. The state is looking for potential suppliers, who can overlook the lottery and work on rules and regulations. Officials hope they have sports betting in place before the start of the NFL season this fall. An important issue for the judges was if lotery’s under the current constitution must be games of solely chance, or predominant chance. Because the state does not define the term lottery, the court had to turned to previous cases.
The judges noted the ruling of a case from 1977, where the NFL fought against the first sports lottery of Delaware. The court concluded that lottery’s do not need to be pure chance, but an element of certainty can be involved, long as chance is the dominant factor in winning or losing. The NFL is strongly against legalization of online gambling, sports betting and online casinos. NFL’s lawyer told the supreme court, that sports betting is based too much on skill to be called a lottery where the outcome is determined by chance. The court did not believe so, and determined that casino games for gamblers must be insured that their outcome is determined mostly by chance. In a written statement the NFL stated that they will challenge the ruling. “We do not believe that promoting additional betting on college and professional athletes and games is healthy for sports.” Other sport leagues like the National Collegiate Athletic Association addressed their displease over the ruling, and even threatened to ban Delaware from further sports events from their league.
America is under the spell of Barney Frank’s Bill, the Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act (IGRCPEA or HR2267) to overthrow the anti-gambling law UIGEA. He introduced the bill at the beginning of May, and has gathered 23 co-sponsors, a co-sponsor is a Member of the House who puts his or her name on the bill, to show support for the bill.
Last week, another 4 representatives put their names on the bill, which puts the number of co-sponsors for the bill at 23. The four are Joseph Crowley, Bob Filner, Micael McMahon and Steven Rothman.Many original co-sponsors are Well known names in the battle for the online casinos and online gambling market. Shelley Berkley, has introduced legislation during the last Congress to study the internet gambling industry and the effects of the UIGEA. Like many actions concerning online gamling, the study did not receive time on the floor of the House of Representatives. Robert Wexler wrote the bill which would exempt games of skill, like poker and mah jong from the UIGEA and the Wire Act, the two anti-gambling laws, which makes the lives of gamblers harder than it needs to be.
 In 2008, Barney Frank introduced twice legislation which should clarify the UIGEA, by creating an extensive list of what is defined as a legal or illegal casino game. The first version was introduced by Barney Frank and Ron Paul, with an amendment to a bill from Peter King, but was beaten down with a 32 to 32 tie vote, which means that the amendment is rejected, after an oral vote the legislation was dropped. The 2 republican allies of Frank, Paul and King are both co-sponsors of Franks bill (IGRCPEA). Another strong ally is Jim McDermott, he has introduced a bill at the same time as Barney Frank’s HR2267, the Internet Gambling Regulation and Tax Enforcement Act (IGRTEA or HR2268). This bill calls for 2%  of the internet gambling deposits will be taxed, the revenues will go to the state, Barney Frank is the only co-sponsor of McDermott’s bill because the two bills HR2267 and HR2268 are partner bills. Another co-sponsor of Frank’s bill is Steve Cohen, he chaired a debate in February about so-called midnight rules. As many know, the UIGEA was passed as a midnight rule to another must-pass legislation, the SAFE Port Act, and thus became implemented as law. Barney Frank also introduced another bill called Reasonable Prudence in Regulation Act (HR2266). This bill will delay the enforcement of UIGEA regulation until December 1st, 2010. This time around, it is likely the bill will pass through the floor of the House, because the bill is gaining support, which would mean for all American citizens that online gambling will become legal.
The Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino will today be organizing the annual World Series of Poker. While thousands of fans of the game travel to the live event to witness it in person, many more people will be unable to travel to Vegas. However, Harrah’s will  make it easier for everyone to follow the tournament, by hosting live broadcasts of 24 tournaments through the internet.
WSOP commissioner Jeffrey Pollack, announced that the website ESPN360.com will broadcast live matches of the poker event in the casino, so the fans can really follow the action. Pollack said: “We are proud to provide the climax action of so many large casino and gambling events to a worldwide audience in real-time. This online initiative will complement our spectacular television package on ESPN and deliver even more of this year’s milestone WSOP to fans who want the most prompt coverage possible.” Unlike ESPN’s TV gambling report, the online gambling report will allow viewers to watch several different tournaments, which includes 4 10.000 dollar World Championships, the Ladies Championship and the 50.000 dollar HORSE tournament. Seth Palansky, Sports and Entertainment Director said about the coverage: “the ability for thousands of people to see the events as they unfold in Las Vegas on the internet is extremely special for not only the WSOP, but also for the players and fans themselves.” The WSOP will start Wednesday May 27 and attract millions of viewers. Gambling at online casinos has become very popular, and poker is the most popular of all. Besides ESPN360.com many poker sites will stream the event aswell. It is the 40th annual tournament, the first bracelet match will start on the 28th, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the tournament.
The President of the Quebec gaming commission says he is worried about the accusations against his organization, claiming the organization has doctored with a critical study on the anti-gambling measures by the government. The Commission and the Loto-Quebec are involved in a lawsuit, because thousands of problem gambler claim they do too little to warn about the dangers of compulsive gambling.
“These are serious allegations,” said Denis Racicot, Head of Alcohol, Racing and Gaming Commission, “if it is true, this is clearly not in line with our values.”This is one day after minister of Public Security, Jacques Dupuis, ordered an internal investigation in response to media reports that the study from the commission was doctored and used as evidence in the lawsuit against loto-Quebec. Dupuis was able to report that Gaston Landry and Roger Chartrand, 2 former provincial police inspectors, lead the investigation of the allegations. “They have to get to the bottom of this.” Said Dupuis. The report about casino gambling was ordered by the commission in 2002 and handed in the next year by four independent researchers. The report did not resurface until the fall of 2008.
The head investigator of the study, Yves Boisvert, was asked to give a statement about his findings. The ethics professor explained to the court that the gaming commission did not submit the original 114 pages gambling study, but a shorter and fabricated version. He said the report was shortened to 53 pages, and important findings were left out about the broad availability of VLT’s (Video Lottery Terminals), state controlled gambling machines and other aspects of the government-controlled internet gambling. Racicot said there were two reports, but he chose the one which was most compact. He declined to give more details. Boisvert said that commission investigators never consulted them before manipulating the study and changing its title, but they kept the researchers names on it. Boisvert stressed that the original study, reported that the WLT’s are highly addictive and too close to ATM’s in the area and that 20% of the bars would not be profitable without the VLT’s. These findings are nowhere to be found in the short version of the casino report.
One of the largest land-based casino operators in the world, Harrah’s Entertainment, announced a new subsidiary on Friday called Harrah’s Interactive Entertainment. This company will expand their World Series of Poker (WSOP)Â brand internationally and online.
Former Director of PartyGaming, Mitch Garber is hired as the Director for the new subsidiary. The announcement comes a week before the WSOP 2009 in Rio begins, the event of Harrah’s attracted 58.720 participants from 124 countries last year, and paid more than 180 million dollar in prizes. The hiring of Garber, confirms months of rumors that Harrah’s is planning to move to the online casino market. Garber left PartyGaming last year, his task at Harrah’s will mean that he will assist with the launch of a WSOP brand site, starting in Italy and England where online gambling is legal. Harrah’s is planning to expand their poker site to other country’s, as soon as online casino gambling is legalised there.
Earlier this month, Harrah’s announced its support for online gambling legislation in the US, and their support for the Barney Frank Bill, which if implemented, overturns the anti-gambling law UIGEA, and regulates online gambling. Director of Harrah’s, Gary Loveman thinks the bill is a step forward for the market, but believes poker has a better chance of legalization than other casinogames. Loveman said: “I think the time has come, especially for online poker, it’s an exciting and lucrative trade, and we will do everything in our power to convince the elected members of congress that online poker is something that adult Americans should be able to do.” Harrah’s is building a free online WSOP site, for America and other countries where internet gamblingis not legalized, so that gamblers in those country’s can still play poker. As the laws in these countries change, the company is ready to capitalize on the online poker market.
World famous online casino software developer, Microgaming, have decided to terminate their partnership with the online casino company Intertops, the decision came after Intertops actions to re-enter the US online gambling market.
Microgaming decided to block access from US citizens to their licensed casinos, after the Kentucky incident, where the state of Kentucky tried to seize Microgaming’s domain names in a dispute over illegal gambling. A couple of days ago, Intertops Casino created a second casino system, so that the company could use different software to re-enter the US market and accept US citizen on their online casino. After this, Microgaming decided to end the partnership with internet gambling operator. The online casino tried to keep its association with Microgaming, while still trying to re-enter the US gambling market. Intertops kept its Microgaming operation called Green Casino, and made a new devision, called Red Casino. Red Casino runs on Real Time Gaming software, a company that stayed in the US market. Green Casino members can play on both casinos, while American citizens can only play at the Red Casino. This was not enough for Microgaming, who said the main reason for ending the relationship with Intertops is the result of the Intertops insistence on accepting US citizens on their casino. Head of marketing for Intertops, Michl Posch, said: “Intertops Casino is proud to have been powered by such a reputable, market-leading, gaming software provider over the past decade.” Microgaming hopes to be a US licensee when online gambling will be allowed, the impatience of Intertops is probably the reason for ending the partnership.
Not to long ago the results of a study by Harvard where released, suggesting that gambling is not the great evil opponents portray it to be. With gambling starting to win ground in the US, with new proponents joining the fight daily, and legislature awaiting approval. It seems the Unversitys of Yale and Minnesota like the idea as well.
The National Center for Responsible Gaming (NCRG) has announced that they will create two Centers of Excellence in Gambling Research for both universitys. The departments will study the causes and effective treatment of problem gambling. The NCRG commented: “We are entering a new era in the field of gambling research, in large part thanks to the significant, groundbreaking work conducted by Dr. Howard Shaffer and his research team at the Harvard Medical School Division on Addictions.” Dr Shaffer finished a multi-year study, showing that common prejudices against internet gambling, for example a higher possibility of addiction, or increase in crime, are all unfounded and do not hold up under closer inspection. The study with the unexpected conclusions show there is a great need for scientific research. The center at Yale will examine factors influencing treatment of gambling disorders, including the effectiveness of drug therapies to combat problem gambling. The center at Minnesota will investigate methods of identifying potential pathological gamblers, and what elements make someone more susceptible to compulsive gambling. The two centers will be funded for a period of three years through grants, 402.500 dollars grants are given to each university. The study by Harvard showing, online casinos and online gambling do not cause more problems is the backbone for the two centers and shows the opinion about gambling is beginning to change.
