A Washington state senator wants to apply state laws about gambling to Wall Street. Us Senator Maria Cantwell says gaming laws could be used to oversee what she termed "casino capitalism." US Senator Cantwell wants to give state attorney generals the power to handle financial markets, a measure that seems clearly to fly in the face of the spirit and letter of the Commerce Clause. Using the popular conceit of the economic crisis as result of gambling behavior by investors, Cantwell wants to regulate derivatives markets that encourage speculative behavior.

Derivatives are seen as essentially betting on the market performance of primary investments. States have previously regulated gambling on stock market movement, going back to bans against betting on market trends at the turn of the 19th century.

"Las Vegas casinos were regulated but betting on Wall Street wasn't," says Maryland law professor Michael Greenberger.

Maria Cantwell wants laws allowing state legal authorities to examine and regulate derivatives markets left unsupervised by Congress. Her backers say the securities industry has contacted her to negotiate changes in law in an effort to persuade her not to use the gambling statutes as a method of attack on investments.

Venture-backed start-ups operating in the 3 most popular forms of online gambling including poker, horse racing and sports betting – stand to see major impacts from proposals winding their way through Congress that could legalize certain types of online betting. While the start-ups are keeping a close eye on the bills’ progress – and in some cases positioning themselves for possible major changes that most believe that any new laws won’t be enacted for at least another year, and possibly longer.

Gerard Cunningham, the president of Betfair US, the world’s largest legal online gambling company, isn’t confident that the bills will get their proper hearing in Congress soon.

“The challenges those bills face is the amount of things going on in Washington, They have other concerns now…maybe next year…maybe the year after.” Gerard Cunningham said.

Gerard Cunningham also said that the company saw revenue in the last 12 months of $50 million in the U.S. and more than $500 million outside the U.S. The company is experienced in understanding and navigating legal issues around gambling in many locales. It’s in a great position to turn on its online casino games in the U.S. if they are legalized.

The aftermath of online casinos in Florida showed some unexpected prejudice in the reporting of a possible options to Governor Charlie Crist. As Governor Charlie Crist examine the potential effects of online poker rooms and online casino sites.

However, some of the writing has led readers to question what sources the gaming survey employed. The possibility of a law allowing intrastate online poker or online casinos, the committee noted that some gambling opponents;

An argue that prevalence of gambling addiction is three to four times higher with Internet gambling than with non-Internet gambling. Unfortunately, there are no sources are footnoted, leaving the reader the impression that such an argument can be substantiated by objective scientific research.

Last September 2009 as reported by the St. Petersburg Times: Governor Charlie Crist and the Seminole Tribe on Monday signed a new gambling agreement to allow the tribe to keep its slot machines and black jack games at the tribe's Florida casinos in exchange for $150 million a year in payments to the state.

Last week, A report requested by the state of Florida at the beginning of this year has been introduced to state officials. This report indicates the possibility of tax revenue up to $90 million that could have been generated each year by legalizing online poker.

For the preparation for debate scheduled on December 1st, the independent company American Poker Ventures brought its report to the Florida Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability last week. The research of APV was conducted with the help of UK gambling consultancy H2, which unveiled that its tax estimations were calculated according to total gross online poker rake of $226 million in the initial year of legalization, $331 million in second year and $457 million in third year, from which the state government could expect a 20 percent cut. The outlook of this kind of income is going to be tempting to a state badly putting its effort into balance its budget in difficult time.

The report indicates a single-center system that would be operated by a private operative under agreement with the state government following a certain process. Half the poker gross rake produced within state borders would be divided amongst the card rooms and groups with gaming compacts approached as licensees, with 30 % going to the systems operator, and the rest of 20 % going to the state.

The Polish Government had approved a draft on a law that would limit casino operations within the member state of the European Union. The law will limit different gambling options in several ways, but online casinos may be completely threw out of the window.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk is determined to ban online gambling in the EU-member state. The new legislation will outlaw all gambling that takes place outside land-based casinos, including online casinos, while taking advantage of higher taxes on legal gambling operators. The ban would limit Poland's casino choices only to the ones that are already established. This would mean that no new permits would be issued to hopeful casino operators. Another portion of the legislation would also raise taxes on the current casinos within Poland.

The proposal would go beyond an online casino ban to also abolish slot machines outside of casinos along with higher taxes for gambling companies in the country. Moreover, the legislation would ban advertising for any games of chance. The online casino ban portion of the legislation will attempt to cover many different areas. The new laws could enable Poland to track connections between internet providers in the nation and those of international wagering websites. The legislation would also closely monitor online money transfer providers.

“We are proposing to ban a significant part of the gambling sector, We want to see this market shrink by 20 to 25 percent per year. Over the course of five years this kind of gambling should disappear from Poland.” The Prime Misnister Of Poland Donald Tuck said.

The legislation would gradually eliminate slot machines over a five-year period. During this period, taxes on the “one-armed bandits” would be increased from 180 euros a month to 480 euros a month. There are over 20,000 slot machines in and usually found in bus stations, train stations, shopping malls and fast food restaurants.

Tusk is also concerned about the potential threat of gambling on young people. The new legislation would make it illegal for anyone 17 years of age or younger to gamble.

Frank Fahrenkopf Jr., president of the land-based casino organ American Gaming Association, said that he doesn't believe optimistic comments that the recession is over. He told the listeners that the industry collaboration is crucial; without it, the responsible gaming activities would have been futile. By sharing resources and best practices – and, perhaps most importantly, by sharing a commitment to responsible gaming – the industry has achieved tremendous progress.

“We know that the vast majority of Americans and Canadians who gamble do so recreationally without adverse consequences. By encouraging them to “Keep it Fun,” we remind them to play responsibly and to keep gambling what it should be – entertainment. ” said Frank Fahrenkopf Jr.

During his address, Fahrenkopf said there have been several positive signs the casino industry is on the road to recovery. Year-over-year gaming revenues are up in Colorado, Missouri and Indiana, thanks in part to more liberalized gaming regulations. New casinos have opened in Pennsylvania, and the state is looking at adding table games to the slot machine-only market.

"Without a doubt, the gaming industry is facing a long road to recovery, however, I consider these results a sign that there is optimism within our industry that we are turning a corner." Fahrenkopf said.

Fahrenkopf said also in his address that in a 2008 study from the Research Institution on Addictions at the University of Buffalo revealed just how frequently young people in the U.S. are gambling. More than two-thirds of the sample – 68% – gambled in the past year. Also, 11% of respondents gambled twice per week. This study also found that more than 6% of the sample included at-risk problem gamblers, and more than 2% already were pathological gamblers.

“We know that the vast majority of Americans and Canadians who gamble do so recreationally without adverse consequences. By encouraging them to “Keep it Fun,” we remind them to play responsibly and to keep gambling what it should be – entertainment. Ultimately, though the U.S. and Canadian approaches to responsible gaming differ, I believe that we both have made a significant impact. And there still is quite a bit of work to be done. We must continue to be vigilant in our efforts to ensure that people gamble safely and responsibly. I look forward to our continued dialogue and to the success and discovery we have still yet to achieve.” said Frank Fahrenkopf Jr.

Fahrenkopf said attention in the gaming industry is focused on what he said would be the biggest gaming industry story of 2010 -- online gambling. In the group's survey, 39% of the respondents thought the legalization and regulation of Internet gaming would dominate the news. There are two bills in Congress concerning the topic.

Last Monday, a force of more than 300 police offices and investigators from the Jerusalem and Southern District Assessors Offices raided the homes of 36 suspects nationwide. Scores of gamblers have been summoned for questioning, and property worth tens of millions of shekels has been seized.

In a statement released on Monday, The Israel Police National Economic Crimes Unit and the online gambling taskforce have darkened the screens of online betting site betbet.us a formerly bet555.net online casino site, which generated $90 million dollars revenue since May 2007. During the early hours over 300 police officers and tax authority officials performed coordinated raids at homes of 37 suspected gamblers and seized assets worth tens of millions of money.

An elaborate hi-tech support network enabled the site's ongoing operation, police said, including a Web site construction team, a technical support team, and betting agents. The original investigation had launched due to suspicions over money laundering and organized crime. The possibility of more serious, violent crimes stemming from the gambling operation.

The police said that online gambling is one of the main activities of organized crime gangs in Israel. It also leads to other serious crimes, including extortion, violence, money laundering, tax evasion, and harming the public coffers.

In early 2008, intelligence was obtained that the chief suspect, a 38-year old resident of Or Yehuda was operating an online gambling site, bet555.net. The investigation found that the site had a turnover of hundreds of millions of shekels during the two and a half years that it was in operation. Profits rose from an initial 3 percent of turnover to more than 5 percent, amounting to millions of shekels. 70 million transactions were made on the website between April 2007 and June 2009, including both entering the website and placing of bets.

Twenty court orders authorizing the Tax Authority to seize the vehicles and assets of suspects had been made available before the raid, and 160 bank accounts have been frozen. "We employed techniques to monitor the Web site that are very similar to eavesdropping, Internet gambling is one of the severe crime phenomena among Israeli crime organizations, It brings with it other forms of serious crimes, like aggravated extortion, violence,money laundering, tax offenses, and theft of moneys from public funds." a police said.