Fahrenkopf says online gambling tops industry concerns

I’m glad to see that someone agrees that regulating and taxing online gambling should and could be a priority since we are broke.

The legalization of Internet gambling will be the hottest federal issue facing Nevada’s gaming industry in the next few years, the president of the American Gaming Association said.

The need for new tax money could drive its legalization in both houses of Congress, said Frank Fahrenkopf, the AGA president and CEO.

“There have been projections circulated on the Hill that it can raise billions of dollars in new federal revenue,” said Fahrenkopf, a Reno High School graduate. “So we can expect that the whole issue of Internet gambling will be front and center in the next Congress.”

Federal lawmakers see that potential tax revenue from Internet gaming could fuel their legislative agenda, Fahrenkopf said.

“Congress has adopted a pay-as-you-go system,” he said. “So any congressman or senator who introduces a piece of legislation that is going to cost something will also have to show how they are going to pay for it, either by cutting spending in one place or raising taxes in another. So we know under those circumstances, they will be looking around at a place to get additional revenue.”

Fahrenkopf made his remarks late last week as he prepared for the opening the Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas on Tuesday. The AGA is a major organizer of the conference, which could attract as many as 30,000 attendees from around the world.

Any push to legalize Internet gaming will first have to beat back anti-Internet gaming work done by the Bush administration.

Last week, the Bush administration approved a 2006 law that outlaws many forms of online gambling and prohibits the transfer of funds from financial institutions to Internet gambling firms. It has forced many banks and other financial institutions to try to clamp down on betting transactions.

U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., has said he wants to overturn the law, saying the regulations are difficult to enforce and interpret.

“With the Obama administration, you wouldn’t see these bad regulations,” Frank reportedly told Gambling911.com.

Nevada gaming companies have mixed opinions on the issue, Fahrenkopf said.

“If it were legalized, I know that Harrahs, which now owns the World Series of Poker, would be extremely interested in getting into that market,” Fahrenkopf said. “We know that MGM has been bullish on Internet gaming for a long time. Steve (Wynn), I don’t know what he would do and I don’t know what some of the other operators would do.”