Republican Senator Bill Frist from Tennessee attempted to push the anti online casino law proposal this week by attaching it to an unrelated military authorization bill. With time winding down on the 109th Congress, which will complete its term by November this year, Frist and other proponents of the anti online gambling legislation are trying innovative ways to bring the proposal to the Senate floor.
But this latest attempt failed, and the proponents of the ban on online casinos suffered another setback. With this most recent of their efforts they seem to despair from their colleagues in the Senate who are not too enthusiastic about bringing the measure to the floor this year. The online casino industry keeps its ground, at least for the moment.
Noticing Frist's initiative and sabotaging it on grounds of irrelevancy - What does an online casino have to do with military issues? - were Senator John Warner, the Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee and Democrat Senator Carl Levin. Feisty Nevada Democrat Rep. Shelley Berkely is reported to have communicated with Warner, urging him to reject any amendment seeking to ban online casinos. "We must not use this important [Defence] bill as a convenient vehicle for political pet issues such as a ban on Internet gaming," Berkley said. |
