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October 6, 2006 at 3:51 pm #597685AnonymousInactive
Protest In Washington Dc For Our Gaming Rights
PROTEST in Washington:
We are going to Washington to protest the bill to stop online gaming. Everyone that can possibly go needs to show up and fight for your rights. If we let it go, then we lose. The bill is supposed to be signed by Bush on Friday the 13th. So it is important to be in Washington to start the protest on Monday. I am going on Sunday, to start the protest on Monday, which is Columbus Day and even better because we will get more media coverage.
Anyone that would like to go I urge you to do so. This can’t be stressed enough how important it is.
If we don’t fight for our rights and our freedom we lose!!!
If you would like more info or need to call to find out where to meet, use the info below.Phone: 910-619-0563
Email: drichardson@bizec.rr.comOctober 6, 2006 at 4:02 pm #710354AnonymousInactiveI won’t be able to attend but a great idea anyway. There is big storm brewing! wait and see. greek39
October 6, 2006 at 4:08 pm #710356AnonymousInactivegreek39 wrote:I won’t be able to attend but a great idea anyway. There is big storm brewing! wait and see. greek39Great just what we need, support for the land based
casinos to fill the demand when they boot everybody else
out.
:highflyer
October 6, 2006 at 4:12 pm #710357AnonymousInactiveSure, I give him/her credit for standing up in what they believe in, but this will unfortunately, be a total waste of time. Did Bush not go to war in Iraq when hundreds of thousands of protesters flooded the streets of Washington ?
Do you really think a couple of thousand gambling protestors will even make the news ???
I am as bitterly frustrated and disappointed as most of you all are, but it’s time to wake up and smell the coffee ! When that bill is signed, it is the deathknell for us affiliates. No ifs, ands, or buts.
I’m here on CAP every hour on the hour for therapy at this point, because like many of you, I am having trouble coping with this very grave and unfortunate situation. I knew this day was coming, but still the reality of it hitting, hasn’t made it any easier.
October 6, 2006 at 4:20 pm #710358AnonymousInactiveI wonder where all the pro poker players are in this? They could mobilize large crowds if they wanted to. They could get on any TV Program or talkshow. Apparently they are content with earning their money at real tables in the future. What a miserable bunch of appeasers. :angry:
October 6, 2006 at 4:45 pm #710359AnonymousInactiveGoldfinger wrote:I wonder where all the pro poker players are in this? They could mobilize large crowds if they wanted to. They could get on any TV Program or talkshow. Apparently they are content with earning their money at real tables in the future. What a miserable bunch of appeasers. :angry:They may wait until the online operations go bust and then
the spin may be … hey this is the land of the free
remember … oh year right … let freedom reign ! and
legalize the land based casinos to go in for the killing.
:dozing:
October 6, 2006 at 4:50 pm #710361AnonymousInactiveI posted this so you can alert your players.
If you want to stomp it out, start your own thread.
October 6, 2006 at 4:54 pm #710362AnonymousInactive” My ” players won’t be mine no longer.
:drunk2:
Thanks Dom … I know you always mean well.
October 6, 2006 at 5:01 pm #710363AnonymousInactiveOk Aleph.
This is supposed to aid the protesters.
It needs to be publicized ad widely as we can manage.
October 6, 2006 at 5:14 pm #710365AnonymousInactiveDominique wrote:Everyone that can possibly go needs to show up and fight for your rights. If we let it go, then we lose.This really is funny, everyone has sat on the ass the last 4-5 years and now that a bill is passed they want to stand up and fight. Just like all the viral crap, why wasnt that done long ago? You cant wait until you’ve been shot full of holes to put on a protective vest; by then its over.
Plenty of us had a very good feeling this would be the year, but what did we do? We sat around and did nothing; we have no one to blame but ourselves for not banding together long ago.
October 6, 2006 at 5:18 pm #710367AnonymousInactiveHonestly, a lot of people did nag but they were not the ones earning billions every year. If the companies which earned billions had committed some of that money to lobbying their cause then this wouldn´t have happened.
October 6, 2006 at 5:19 pm #710368AnonymousInactiveJust found this … anybody think there is a chance that
a BIG wire transfer will go through to politicians from
online gambling executives just before The Apocalypse
becomes official ?
Come on Professor we know you make it happen.
:bigsmile:
Online gaming had ties to US ‘super-lobbyists’
Financial Times
Updated: 1:42 a.m. ET Oct 6, 2006PartyGaming, SportingBet and other online gaming companies paid millions of dollars to Washington lobbyists linked to Jack Abramoff, the notorious super-lobbyist, to help them thwart US anti-gambling legislation.
Mr Abramoff’s highly public fall from grace and conviction on criminal corruption charges earlier this year – and the downfall of many of his associates – opened the door for the passage last weekend of a law that he and the companies staunchly opposed.
The passage by Congress of the Unlawful Gambling Enforcement Act has drawn accusations of US protectionism and the suggestion that the law was driven through by conservative Republicans.
However, lobbying records analysed by the Financial Times show that the companies were closely connected to Mr Abramoff and his team – the same men whose political ties, for years, played a central part in helping insulate the gambling industry from laws and regulations.
The demise of Mr Abramoff and his colleagues substantially weakened the gambling companies’ political hand in Washington, paving the way for the bill’s passage.
SportingBet spent $2.2m (£1.17m) from 1998 to 2005 lobbying Washington lawmakers on issues involving online gaming, according to figures compiled by the Center for Public Integrity, which tracks lobbying, and other public filings.
Among other lobbyists, the company hired: Tony Rudy, a former aide to ex-congressman Tom DeLay and who has pleaded guilty to bribery charges in connection to the Abramoff scandal; and Neil Volz, a former congressional chief of staff who has also pleaded guilty to bribing his former boss, Congressman Bob Ney. SportingBet declined to comment.
PartyGaming, the largest online gaming website, initially declined to disclose who their lobbyists in Washington were, but when presented evidence acknowledged that the company was and is currently represented by Gibraltar-based International Interactive Alliance (IIA), a company that formerly had close ties to Mr Abramoff.
Although most of the public scrutiny of Mr Abramoff’s wheeling and dealing in Washington has been centred on his work on behalf of Native Americans’ gambling interests, records show that the IIA, which hired Mr Abramoff in 2003, was a lucrative client of the former lobbyist. Over just one and a half years, IIA paid Mr Abramoff’s firm, Greenberg Traurig, $1.3m for Mr Abramoff’s services. In all, IIA has spent at least $1.9m on its lobbying campaign, and continues to be represented by Greenberg Traurig.
When asked directly whether PartyGaming lobbied in Washington through the IIA, a spokesperson for the company initially defended the IIA by saying it was an “industry group” with high standards.
“It has not been lobbying like the horseracing industry in that it has not put money into congressional races. [Instead, it uses] good old-fashioned talking to people and presenting the arguments,” a spokesman said.
But in the exhaustive investigations into Mr Abramoff by Republican Senator John McCain, there is evidence that IIA had a particularly close relationship with Mr Abramoff.
In 2003, the IIA transferred to Greenberg Traurig, Mr Abramoff’s former firm, $1.25m. According to congressional testimony, the payment was later passed on to KayGold, a company Mr Abramoff controlled.
Asked about the payment, PartyGaming said: “Jack Abramoff’s actions made the IIA one of his victims. Hindsight is easy, if we knew what we know now, then we wouldn’t have even taken Jack Abramoff out for a cup of coffee.”
Copyright The Financial Times Ltd. All rights reserved.
October 6, 2006 at 5:25 pm #710370AnonymousInactiveOk, this is officially a derailed thread now.
I will let it go on and start a new one.
October 6, 2006 at 5:29 pm #710372AnonymousInactiveI think I was on topic. I was trying to show that the
real power is behind the scenes and in the hands of
lobbyists. Shhh I won’t say no more.
:hattip:
October 6, 2006 at 5:30 pm #710373AnonymousInactiveGo ahead, the thread took it’s own turn.
I started a new one.
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