Online Gambling

Internet poker and other online gambling could soon go from being mostly banned in the United States to being legal, licensed, taxed - and casino-controlled. Thank powerful Rep. Barney Frank (D., Mass.) , who pushed H.R. 2267 through in a bipartisan 41-22 vote in his House banking committee Wednesday evening. Frank's allies in the Democratic leadership are likely to slip the bill through Congress by tacking it onto some "must-pass" legislation as an amendment, rather than subject to straight Senate and House votes that some members might find embarrassing, according to FBR Capital Markets Corp.

What a difference an arrest can make. Last year at this time, the Internet-gambling industry's biggest event, the Global Interactive Gaming Summit & Expo, drew about 1,800 attendees. This year's event here drew about half that. What happened? Last July, David Carruthers, the chief executive officer of BetonSports.com, was arrested in Texas and charged with 22 counts of racketeering and fraud. Carruthers is under house arrest and awaiting a trial date. His arrest marked the beginning of a government crackdown on the $12 billion online-gambling industry.

Gov. Christie, the scheduled keynote speaker at this week's East Coast Gaming Congress in Atlantic City at the new Revel Casino, will not attend the gambling conference, a decision that some critics again tied to his presumed national political ambitions. Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno will take his place, said Christie's press secretary, Michael Drewniak. "Nothing more than a scheduling conflict and change," Drewniak said late Friday of Christie's backing out as the luncheon speaker Thursday for the two-day gathering.

Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc., owner of two casino hotels in Atlantic City, is about to enter a partnership with another firm to offer online gambling. Trump Entertainment has "determined that such a joint venture represents the most advantageous way for the company to participate in opportunities in online gaming at minimal cost to the company," according to an Oct. 14 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Trump Entertainment would own 10 percent of the new venture.

London-based executives at one of the largest online sports-betting sites for U.S. customers are still trying to discern what the arrest of the CEO of a rival Web site by the FBI earlier this week will mean for business. "It's been a tumultuous week," Alex Czajkowski, marketing director for SportingBet P.L.C., which operates Sportsbook.com, said yesterday. Sportsbook.com, the company's flagship brand, generated more than $2 billion in sports wagers last year and more than $5 billion in casino wagering.

Gamblers Anonymous organizers in Pennsylvania and New Jersey say they have seen a noticeable rise in the number of young people at their weekly meetings in the last six years. Among them is 18-year-old Ryan. Less than a month after his first time on an Internet poker site, Ryan said, he was hooked. He racked up nearly $20,000 in gambling debt on a stolen credit card. Ryan now attends Gamblers Anonymous meetings twice a week in Basking Ridge, N.J., trying to piece his young life together.

A landmark Justice Department ruling before Christmas that seems to have opened the door to online gambling has some New Jersey lawmakers ready to rush into legalizing Internet betting. But before legislators get behind the plan of State Sen. Raymond Lesniak (D., Union) to make New Jersey "the Silicon Valley of Internet gaming," someone should note that most state residents oppose online gambling. The roughly two-thirds of voters, who for the past two years have voiced objections to Internet betting when asked by Fairleigh Dickinson University pollsters, clearly grasp the risks of mouse-clicking through the rent money.

Nathan Kriegler loves to gamble. He takes several trips a year to Atlantic City, Las Vegas or the Bahamas. When he heard last month that there was gambling on the Internet, he hopped online and went looking for a game. "Where can I gamble from my computer?" he asked in e-mail sent to an Internet newsgroup called rec.gambling.blackjack. The Northeast Philadelphia native, who runs a printing business in Pompano Beach, Fla., said his inquiry resulted in several leads for casino-style gambling sites on the World Wide Web, and he checked them out. But he went away disappointed.

New Jersey is again rolling the dice on Internet gambling from computer servers at Atlantic City casinos. An expanded measure passed a state Senate committee last week that would allow online wagers not only from state residents but also gamblers from other states and even other countries. Supporters say the second time might be the charm, as Gov. Christie has hinted he will sign the revised measure, as other states are angling for online gaming dollars and the Justice Department's interpretation of a key federal law just turned in its favor.

BetOnSports P.L.C., the embattled London-based Internet gambling company that has been charged with fraud and racketeering by U.S. prosecutors, announced yesterday that it has shut down its services for gamblers in the United States. On Thursday, the company told its employees that it was shutting down its Costa Rican and Antiguan offices, where it accepted wagers from tens of thousands of customers in the United States, its primary market. The shutdown will result in the elimination of about 800 jobs, the company said in a statement.

While New Jersey's political leaders tussle over whether to legalize Internet gambling in Atlantic City's casinos, another group of prominent Garden State residents is apparently taking full advantage of the profits available through online wagering. A federal racketeering case unveiled today in Newark and a state case pending for more than two years in Morris County make it clear: The mob has discovered the Internet. Thirteen alleged members of a Hudson County, N.J., crew of the Genovese crime family, including its 80-year-old leader and his 72-year-old top associate, were arrested today on racketeering conspiracy charges that focused on a multimillion-dollar sports-betting operation run through an Internet website and an office in Costa Rica.

Gov. Christie, the scheduled keynote speaker at this week's East Coast Gaming Congress in Atlantic City at the new Revel Casino, will not attend the gambling conference, a decision that some critics again tied to his presumed national political ambitions. Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno will take his place, said Christie's press secretary, Michael Drewniak. "Nothing more than a scheduling conflict and change," Drewniak said late Friday of Christie's backing out as the luncheon speaker Thursday for the two-day gathering.

New Jersey is again rolling the dice on Internet gambling from computer servers at Atlantic City casinos. An expanded measure passed a state Senate committee last week that would allow online wagers not only from state residents but also gamblers from other states and even other countries. Supporters say the second time might be the charm, as Gov. Christie has hinted he will sign the revised measure, as other states are angling for online gaming dollars and the Justice Department's interpretation of a key federal law just turned in its favor.

MANILA, Philippines - Sixteen pit bulls rescued from a dogfighting ring in the Philippines were euthanized Tuesday and dozens more are likely to be because there are no facilities to rehabilitate them and prevent them from reappearing in underground arenas. Roughly 300 dogs were rescued in separate raids late Friday in Laguna province south of Manila, said Anna Cabrera of the Philippine Animal Welfare Society. Seventeen with the worst injuries were put down over the weekend, and the health of the living dogs and the progress of rehabilitating them will determine how many of them ultimately survive.

TRENTON - In the race to be the first state to approve Internet gambling - and dominate a potentially multi-billion-dollar market - New Jersey lawmakers heard what they wanted to hear Monday from a Seton Hall law professor and expert on the state constitution. John Wefing told an Assembly panel that he did not believe voters needed to approve Internet gambling to make it legal in New Jersey. Wefing said current law already gives the Legislature and the governor the power to decide what forms of gambling are appropriate for Atlantic City.

A landmark Justice Department ruling before Christmas that seems to have opened the door to online gambling has some New Jersey lawmakers ready to rush into legalizing Internet betting. But before legislators get behind the plan of State Sen. Raymond Lesniak (D., Union) to make New Jersey "the Silicon Valley of Internet gaming," someone should note that most state residents oppose online gambling. The roughly two-thirds of voters, who for the past two years have voiced objections to Internet betting when asked by Fairleigh Dickinson University pollsters, clearly grasp the risks of mouse-clicking through the rent money.

Rushing to take advantage of a U.S. Justice Department ruling that in-state Internet gambling does not violate federal law, a New Jersey lawmaker is pushing for his colleagues to pass a bill legalizing online gambling within the state's borders. State Sen. Raymond Lesniak (D., Union) said Monday that he would try to get a bill through the Legislature and onto Gov. Christie's desk by next week. The goal is to make New Jersey the national leader in online gambling now that the federal government says that in-state bets do not violate the law. "We can be the Silicon Valley of Internet gaming," said Lesniak.

In the Region Kwasnik law license suspended in N.J. The New Jersey State Supreme Court on Wednesday suspended the law license of Philadelphia lawyer Michael Kwasnik, who was charged in a state grand jury indictment in November with stealing $1.1 million from a Cherry Hill widow. Kwasnik had been under investigation by state bar authorities and law enforcement officials for a variety of alleged ethics-code and criminal violations involving his mostly elderly clients.

Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc., owner of two casino hotels in Atlantic City, is about to enter a partnership with another firm to offer online gambling. Trump Entertainment has "determined that such a joint venture represents the most advantageous way for the company to participate in opportunities in online gaming at minimal cost to the company," according to an Oct. 14 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Trump Entertainment would own 10 percent of the new venture.