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Costa Rica not caving to U.S. gambling arrestsNews Story
Costa Rica finds itself in the middle of the fight between U.S. authorities and the online gambling industry. Think of Costa Rica and flashes of colorful birds, bright beaches and long hikes through the rain forest come to mind. But several recent arrests and indictments have thrust the country into the spotlight for another, less savory reason: its cozy relationship with the online gambling industry. The industry is under fire from U.S. authorities, helping create the notion that this sma
Sep 25, 2006, 2:27 pm - Lottery News

Another Gamble for Online BettingNews Story
Legal wrangling in the U.S. is clouding the prospects for the industry world-wide Two recent arrests of online-gambling executives in the U.S. are drawing attention to a spirited but so far unsuccessful effort in Washington to clarify the legal status of Internet gambling and resolve the political and legal issues of regulating it. Earlier this month, Peter Dicks, at the time nonexecutive chairman of Sportingbet PLC, Britain's largest publicly traded Internet-gambling company, was arrested
Sep 22, 2006, 7:51 am - Lottery News

By hook or by crook: lawmakers relentless on taking away online rightsNews Story
Congressional leaders are trying to forge a compromise that would allow them to push through legislation banning most forms of Internet gambling, aides said on Thursday. Top House and Senate lawmakers have been trying to break a logjam that has stalled the Internet gambling legislation by attaching it to any one of a number of must-pass spending bills before the end of the year, aides said. However, they have yet to agree on a final deal. I'm confident that (Senate Majority Leader Bill) F
Sep 22, 2006, 7:06 am - Lottery News

North Dakota a Gambling Haven?News Story
Outside the Beltway, way out there in flyover land on the prairies of North Dakota, not all Republicans are lining up to support U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's call to ban Internet gambling. In fact, North Dakota State Rep. Jim Kasper says, My fellow Republicans just don't get it when it comes to Internet gambling. In July, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006, which updates the 1961 Wire Act banning sports wagering o
Sep 16, 2006, 12:22 pm - Lottery News

Frist continues crusade against Internet gamblingNews Story
Senate Majority Leader Frist seeks to add Internet gambling ban to defense bill, sources say Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist is trying use a bill authorizing U.S. military operations, including in Iraq and Afghanistan, to prohibit people from using credit cards to settle Internet gambling debts. Frist, R-Tenn., and his aides have been meeting with other lawmakers and officials in both the House and Senate to get the measure attached to a compromise Defense Department authorization bill,
Sep 14, 2006, 9:19 am - Lottery News

Banks balk at plan to cut off cash from net casinosNews Story
A group representing 5,000 small banks is opposing a tool lawmakers hope to use to stop online gambling, posing a challenge to what is widely seen as the government's best shot at cracking down on the activity. The Independent Community Bankers of America, whose members range from New York's Metropolitan National Bank to Colorado's First National Bank of Las Animas, is objecting to a proposal winding its way through Congress that would require financial institutions to block payments between
Aug 30, 2006, 12:22 pm - Lottery News

Lawmakers criticize Iowa Lottery bonusesNews Story
Iowa Lottery workers are about to receive up to $7,700 each in what their board calls incentive-based pay and what critics call politically tone-deaf bonuses. The lottery board voted 5-0 Thursday to split $385,710 among the agency's 116 employees, with each person receiving almost 6 percent of annual salary. The money is to be paid under a long-standing policy that rewards workers when the agency meets financial targets, lottery officials said. In this case, the lottery went almost $3 m
Aug 21, 2006, 12:30 pm - Lottery News

A million bad reasons to voteNews Story
Why the Arizona voter lottery is a terrible idea By Jeff Jacoby, Boston Globe Arizona voters will face an embarrassment of electoral riches this fall, when as many as 19 proposed laws appear on the state ballot for their approval. Among the measures to be voted on are a 50 percent increase in state legislators' salaries, a constitutional amendment allowing bail to be denied to illegal aliens , and the designation of English as the state's official language. But one Arizona initiative ha
Aug 2, 2006, 9:41 am - Lottery News

N.C. legislature approves lottery oversight committeeNews Story
Lawmakers will be able to keep a close watch on North Carolina's newly adopted lottery under a bill passed Thursday night. Both chambers gave the measure final approval in an effort to ensure that the lottery money goes directly to education programs. The nine-member panel will review the lottery's annual revenue and make sure that the division's proceeds are not supplanting existing education funds. Oversight is needed to keep the General Assembly in touch with something as big as the lo
Jul 28, 2006, 8:21 am - Lottery News

N.J. Gov. wants video lotteryNews Story
Is Corzine trying to make up for his throwing away millions during lottery/casino shutdown? New Jersey Governor Jon S. Corzine, who cost the state millions of dollars in tax revenue by shutting down the state's lottery and casino games in a move to force legislators to accept massive tax increases, proposed Tuesday that New Jersey should add video lottery terminals. (See Budget Process Questioned After Shutdown, below.) The terminals have long been proposed for the Meadowlands and ot
Jul 26, 2006, 7:02 pm - Lottery News