Lobbying and Online
Gambling Go Hand in Hand
March
10, 2010
It is true, but working on
getting online gambling legalized is a high stakes game in the political
arena. For every politician that wants to spend millions to see online
gambling legalized it seems that there is another willing to spend their
millions to see that it isn’t. It is a high stakes game of cat and mouse
and the American people are the ones that are running back and forth
between them to see who is winning the latest battle.
According to recent reports, there is big money to be had in the passage
of online gambling legislation. It is estimated to be a $20 billion
industry and there are a lot of people who want to see it legalized.
They are willing to spend millions to see it happen. According to the
recent polls, Harrah’s has spent more than $3 million in the past year
trying to get online gambling legalized. They are not alone – the
Interactive Gaming Council has also spent at least $2.3 million for the
same purpose.
Then there is the online gambling site Poker Stars who spent about
$300,000 to Representative Dick Gephardt to lobby for online gambling
for them. But the amount of money coming from the online gambling
industry is huge as it behooves them to make it legal. They are already
making money hand over fist, so to legalize it would make them even more
absurd amounts of money.
But they are not fighting without an opponent. The side against online
gambling has spent their fair share of money to keep it illegal and are
joined by groups like the National Football League. The NFL has spent
roughly $800,000 to a single lobbying firm to keep online gambling
illegal. There are other groups that join them, just not as vocally as
the NFL has been against online gambling.
