Manne wrote:
The National Conference of State Legislatures is opposing federal legalization of Internet poker, telling congressional leaders in a letter that the matter should be handled on the state level.
Two state lawmakers, writing on behalf of the organization, cited December's ruling by the U.S. Department of Justice, which said the Federal Wire Act of 1961 only applies to sports wagering, as giving states the authority to determine if they want to legalize intrastate online gambling.
"The NCSL believes the federal government should respect the Justice Department ruling and would oppose any efforts by Congress to preempt state authority over Internet gaming," wrote Hawaii State Sen. Carol Fukunaga, and Alabama Rep. Greg Wren, the co-chairs of the NCSL Communications, Financial Services & Interstate Commerce Committee.
The letter was addressed to the Democratic and Republican leaders in both the House and Senate, including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.
The National Conference of State Legislators cited the organization's long-standing opposition to "unwarranted federal pre-emption of state authority." The lawmakers asked Congress to allow state legislatures to decide whether to approve Internet gaming initiatives within their boundaries.
"We ask Congress to respect the sovereignty of states and to not consider any legislation that would overturn the Department of Justices ruling or to consider any legislation that would regulate gambling at the federal level," the letter said.
"States have long been able to choose whether or not other forms of gambling should be legal and have been very successful in its regulation. We also ask that the federal government respect the rights of states that choose to prohibit Internet gaming."
Officials from states with lotteries have also opposed federal Internet poker legalization.
Most of the commercial casino industry, including the Washington D.C.-based American Gaming Association, supports federal legalization of online poker.
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2012/02/28
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There is a growing number of ladies from the United Kingdom joining in the online gambling craze, new statistics from National Centre for Social Research show. According to casino gambling news, the figures have shown exponential growth over the past decade.
The figures reportedly show that excluding the National Lottery, women in the United Kingdom playing online blackjack, bingo and other gambling games has grown by a third over the last decade, to now equate for roughly half the female population in the country.
Scratch cards and slot machines, available in arcades are also popular among the growing number of gambling ladies in the UK. The researchers, issued the following statement following the report to the Commons culture select committee: “We see more women and older people becoming involved with gambling and increase in the proportion of people who gamble regularly.”
Several other key statistics were raised in the report, aside from the fact that men are now no longer more likely to wager than women. Some of the findings include that 33% of the women taking the survey had gambled at some point during the week, and only 0.3% of female gamblers were found to be problem gamblers.
Women aged between 45 and 65 were also the most common age group among lady gamblers, and that women are playing online bingo more frequently than men. Although there has been a rise of 2% up to 10% in the number of women playing slot machines and frequenting Blackjack casino online.
Other interesting findings in the report have shown that the number of “grey gamblers”, those aged seventy five or over has also grown from fifty two percent in 1999 to sixty five percent in 2010, including large a number of widows.
Whilst the difference between play in casino and online games can arguably be explained as a very justifiable reason for the increase in female gamblers, with plenty of online bingo sites designed for ladies, the global recession is also believed to play a factor.
More and more ladies are prepared to gamble any small funds they have privately in hope of striking a fortune to see them out of the recession. It has also been rumored that girl’s nights out, have seen rises in the number of active bingo hall attendances too.