While the religious wing of the Republican Party pushes for government to legislate against choices they don't like, such as gambling at online casino and sports betting, Rand Paul seeks to allow individual liberties and limit government's influence.

Despite efforts from the more liberal elements to lump libertarian Rand Paul in with social conservatives, the Kentucky Republican has made clear his is a distinctly different philosophy. His quotes, used by the ridiculously biased Huffington Post to supposedly expose him, instead show an understanding of Constitutional concepts foreign to both established conservatives and liberals, and directly relevant to the online casino legalization debate.

Rand Paul is being blasted for being manipulated into a political firestorm by MSNBC's most strident liberal, Rachel Maddow, who got Paul to say government has no business creating laws that interfere with private clubs, even if the membership is racially exclusive. Rand Paul distinguishes between, as Barney Frank has noted many times regarding online gambling, what government endorses and what government makes illegal.

Click Here to Read More »

For gamblers to find the most popular online casino, they currently have to use their computers. That will not be the case for long, however, after Google announced their innovative Google TV would be coming to television sets across the world.

Featured in Google TV is an on-screen search box that allows viewers to search for their favorite television shows or other material available on the Web. The idea is being pitched as a way to make television viewing easier, but the end result could be Internet surfing and gambling on big screen high definition televisions throughout the world.

Sony has partnered with Google for the project, and they claim their television sets with Google TV access will be ready by the fall. The price has not yet been determined, but analysts are predicting the price to come in somewhere in the $200 to $300 range.

Click Here to Read More »

While some speakers at the hearing concerning online casino taxation before the House Ways and Means Committee oppose allowing online betting, even they said the issue should be resolved by the states.

While various positions were elucidated at today's House Ways and Means Committee hearing on Representative Jim McDermott's bill outlining taxation for online gambling, even those opposed to Internet gaming admitted the Federal Government probably shouldn't be deciding the issue. Bob Goodlatte, a Virginia Republican, said the need for money shouldn't outweigh negatives he sees in online gambling, but added the issue properly belongs to the states.

"People sometimes resort to drastic things when they are strapped for cash," said Bob Goodlatte. Still, he agreed with supporters of regulation that a federal ban is not the solution, saying states should be able to make their own decisions.

Click Here to Read More »

Prior to the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) that was introduced in the U.S. in 2006, PartyGaming was one of the largest online gambling providers in that country. However, they were forced to pull out of the U.S. after the Act was introduced. This week PartyGaming announced that they are noticing an increased momentum towards the regulation of online poker in the U.S. and are preparing to make a return.

Jim Ryan, PartyGaming Chief Executive, announced that it was possible that the UIGEA could be overturned as early as this year and that in the event of this happening, they are fully prepared. Last year PartyGaming reached an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice and all the company's wrongdoings in the past was cleared by them. This agreement has left an opening for the online casino operator to re-enter the U.S.

Online gambling market should the UIGEA be overturned. They could, however, re-enter the U.S. market without the UIGEA being overturned as Lawmakers in many states are contemplating regulating online poker. In the event of the Lawmakers being successful PartyGaming will be permitted to gain licenses to operate within those states.

Click Here to Read More »

Canada's provincial lotteries are joining together to create a national online casino site, offering online casino players a safe and regulated series of sites. The British Columbia Lottery Corporation is linking with other Canadian lotteries to permit online casino access across the country, according to reports by the Canwest News Service. The company, owned by the province, will join with the Atlantic Lottery and Loto-Quebec to offer Internet gaming over a standardized platform.

A gambling consultant with the Atlantric Lottery Bob Rybak said he expects the provinces not currently operating online casino games to join the project, giving Canada a unified system of online gambling. The new network would be accessible not only to computer users, but also through mobile phone applications.

However, some gambling critics showed their lack of education regarding problem gambling, saying the online gambling project would bring a great danger of increased problem gambling to Canada.

Click Here to Read More »

A Poker Players Alliance executive reveals a split in the Republican Party over online casino, with the growing libertarian forces opposed to the online casino prohibition. An article published on conservative website biggovernment.com says the legislative battle over online casino and online poker may hold the future of the Grand Old Party. Rich Muny of the Poker Players Alliance writes that social conservatives are growing alarmed at the emerging libertarian focus of the anti-big government movement, and may make the online casino ban a point on which to draw a desperate stand.

Rich Muny cites written opinions expressed by a number of influential Republicans opposing the prohibition of online casino, from the PPA's own Alfonse D'Amato to Dick Armey, George Will, and Ron Paul. Rich Muny also added that the social conservatives controlling such groups as the infamous Focus on the Family and the Family Research Council are feeling their strength sap away.

"In this environment, perhaps it is not surprising that some Republican lawmakers feel that going after online poker could shore up the support of the dwindling ranks of social issue statistics, It is up to conservatives to tell their lawmakers that they demand fidelity to conservative principles. If we do not want them wasting political capital on online poker bans, and if we do not want them fighting for smaller government fifty percent of the time and for larger government the remaining fifty percent, we need to tell them." writes PPA's Rich Muny.

Click Here to Read More »

Online casino is a growing phenomenon in households nationwide, many people sit down after a hard day's work and login to try their luck at online gambling. Some play professionally, others for recreation, but both probably feel that there is little harm in doing it. The House of Representatives thinks differently about the issue.

Jim McDermott's proposal to use revenue collected from online gambling taxes to fund foster care will soon receive a hearing before the House Ways and Means Committee. Representative Jim McDermott's bill taxing online gambling and using the revenue to fund foster care programs may have a hearing before the House Ways and Means Committee as soon as next week, according to a report by PokerNews.com. The bill, a companion piece to Barney Frank's measure detailing regulation for Internet gaming, will most likely be discussed on the 19th or 20th.

While there has been a fair amount of informal talk about online gambling among the members of Barney Frank's Financial Services Committee, the topic will be new and unfamiliar to many members of the Ways and Means Committee. John Pappas, executive director of the Poker Players Alliance, says his group is trying hard to educate Congressmen on the subject before the hearing.

Click Here to Read More »

While Pennsylvania residents are excited about casino table games, they are still waiting for one of their online casino projects to be completed. The SugarHouse Casino project looks like the first one to be finished. But the Gambling tycoon Steve Wynn decided to pull out of his plan to take over the management of the Foxwoods casino projects on April 8th, 2010.

Negotiations were still ongoing and it is not known if the talks stalled or if Steve Wynn simply decided that he no longer had any interest in the Foxwoods project. That decision comes at a time when Pennsylvania is preparing for casino table games expansion.

Table games were approved by legislators earlier this year and many casino facilities in the state are expecting to have the games operation for players by summer. Philadelphia has proven to be a difficult city to conduct business with for both casino facility projects. The SugarHouse casino project has been postponed several times for different reasons.

Some of the issues are a resistance from area residents who do not want the casino facility to be constructed in their area. That has caused Philadelphia to move slowly in approving the necessary construction permits. Billionaire Neil Bluhm has been the main financer behind the SugarHouse project and the developers are hoping that a temporary casino will be open to the public by the end of 2010. Meanwhile, the Foxwoods casino project has been temporarily put on hold after Steve Wynn backed out of the agreement.

The Pennsylvania Bill 711 is the catalyst that will allow poker, roulette, blackjack, roulette and craps games. The bill does a lot more than just legalizing table games because it is filled with special earmarks. For example, there is an earmark that allows patrons in Philadelphia casinos to smoke despite the fact that there is a city law that bans smoking in public places. Additionally, the bill also increases the amount of slot machines that a resort casino can have from 500 to 600.

Had this bill not passed it likely would have lead to the elimination of 1,000 state jobs and cuts to many state-funded programs. Currently, there is a $250 million gap in the Pennsylvania budget and this bill is expected to fill that void. The passage of Bill 711 came as good news to many and could mean particularly good news for the Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh. Rivers Casino was predicted to be one of the State’s most lucrative, yet this past September it posted the third-lowest revenues of Pennsylvania’s 9 casinos. The hope is that table games will bring the Rivers Casino revenues closer to the highest in the state, rather than the lowest.

Back in December 2009, online casino revenues in Pennsylvania had bigger slot machine revenue than in Atlantic City for the first time in history. Pennsylvania casinos are planning to take advantage of that momentum once the casino table games are operational.