ï»¿RAWA House Hearing Not a Big Hit with OGR People

The House Oversight and Government Reform (OGR) Committee listened to opinions on the Restoration of America’s Wire Act on Wednesday, the second time RAWA has been the topic of a House hearing.

RAWA gets around more, yet remains as unloved, as this one girl you went to school with.

AKA the Restoration of America’s Wire Act, RAWA was heard in the House of Representatives on during an Oversight and Government Reform (OGR) session titled, ‘A Casino in Every Smartphone: Law Enforcement Implications. wednesday’

(We’re uncertain should they were making a play in the old Herbert Hoover slogan ‘A Chicken in Every Pot’ with that session title, but choice that is interesting anyway.)

Four witnesses brought their expertise that is supposed to, DC, to testify on Rep. Jason Chaffetz’s (R-Utah) legislation that would restore the Wire Act to its pre-2011 interpretation. Four years back, the Department of Justice ruled that the pre-Internet 1961 law that is federaln’t necessarily prohibit online gambling, effectively opening states to legalize online casinos.

‘We’ve had numerous attorneys general, numerous governors saying, ‘You can’t do that to the state,» Chaffetz stated in his remarks. ‘ You just don’t unilaterally change the statutory law by having an OLC (Office of Legal Counsel) opinion.

‘ That poses a nagging problem for a lot of states. States that have legalized gambling, states like myself [sic] that have no video gaming, and do not wish to own any gaming,’ Chaffetz declared.

Determining RAWA

‘ The interpretation of the Wire Act has become a concern before 2011 also it stays a question now,’ State Senator Mark Lipparelli (R-Nevada) testified. ‘a situation is had by you now where you have actually old law which hasn’t kept up with innovation.’

Lipparelli had been instrumental in bringing on-line poker to Nevada, as he formerly served since the chairman of the Nevada Gaming Control Board. Throughout the RAWA hearing, Lipparelli was routinely asked to defend legalization, which he did successfully, in accordance with observers that are many.

Lost throughout the hearing had been a understanding that is central of comprises ‘legal online gambling’ versus ‘illegal online gambling’.

FBI Assistant Director for the Criminal Investigative Division Joseph Campbell provided several instances where his division has infiltrated criminal syndicates, concealing their identity online to launder cash. However, when asked to provide accounts of any currently legal and regulated gambling operator’s transgressions in the exact same vein, Campbell said he could maybe not furnish such examples.

Republican South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson swore that their state’s experience with land-based video poker happens to be a giant negative, and that ‘gambling addictions proliferated exponentially.’

‘Despite South Carolina’s continued most useful efforts over the decades to protect our citizens through the threats posed by gambling, the Department of Justice’s revised interpretation of the Wire Act has opened the doorway to Internet gambling, potentially turning any mobile device inside our state into a virtual casino.’

Nebraska attorney Donald Kleine then also expressed concerns about states gambling that is legalizing computers and smartphones. ‘on the web gambling easily crosses domestic and borders that are international can often be accessed by anyone with Web access,’ Kleine explained.

Location, Location, Not Just Location

A shared trepidation among RAWA supporters is that current technology cannot accurately determine the whereabouts of a user trying to enter a casino that is online. ‘ I think it’s naïve at best to think a wall can be put by you on the Internet,’ Chaffetz reported.

But Chaffetz, who also serves while the OGR seat, said his concerns are a lot more than just location.

‘Location is … a core part of it, but it addittionally is because of how old you are, it has related to your intoxication (level), it has to do with a whole host of things,’ Chaffetz detailed.

Rep. Gary Palmer (R-Alabama) also voiced fears about an adolescent getting a hold of a smartphone with a casino app losing and installed the adult owner’s entire bankroll. Lipparelli responded by declaring that such a concern is not specific to online gambling, and it’s you can forget dangerous, or perhaps even less dangerous due to regulated iGaming controls, than a youth obtaining a credit card and going crazy shopping on the web.

Those that did attend seemed apprehensive in voting to have Congress get involved with deciding the fate of online gambling for all 50 states though the majority of the 43 OGR committee members skipped the RAWA discussion.

OGR Website Censored

Viewers can afford to watch the RAWA discussion in its entirety on the OGR website, or watch three carefully selected excerpts posted underneath the hours-long session.

Though the conference ended up being well-rounded and lively, the three clips on the OGR website appears to highlight the best exchanges of primarily RAWA proponents.

Chaffetz’s whole inquiry, which was allowed to be restricted to five minutes, but ran for over nine, is available for viewing in its entirety. As are comments from Wilson as he recounts a tale where a child that is young in a hot car outside a casino as the mom compulsively gambled inside.

Palmer’s questioning, including his opinion that gambling objectives the poor, can also be watched. Palmer was one of, or perhaps the actual only real, representative in attendance that came across as in support of RAWA, besides bill sponsor Chaffetz, of course.

Meyer Lansky Heirs Seek Compensation Claim for Cuban Casino

Meyer Lansky, ‘the Mob’s Accountant,’ who fled the Cuban Revolution, leaving his Havana casinos behind him. (Image: museumsyndicate.com)

When Meyer Lansky built the Habana Riviera Hotel and Casino in 1957, Havana was moving.

It ended up being, during the time, the largest purpose-built hotel worldwide and Ginger Rogers played on the night that is opening.

Lansky complained that while Rogers could ‘wiggle her ass’ she ‘couldn’t sing a goddam note,’ but the popular Jewish mobster ended up being pleased sufficient.

After all, times were good: he had set up himself in the suite that is presidential within initial 12 months he would make $3 million from his new task.

But revolution had been in the air, and in 1959 Lansky was forced to flee the country, as was his great friend, the dictator and President of Cuba Fulgencio Batista, under whose patronage the American Mafia had flourished in Cuba.

A lot of Havana’s casinos were damaged in the looting and fighting as Castro’s forces swarmed into town. In 1960 all of Cuba’s hotels had been nationalized and gambling became unlawful.

The Door is Open

But, history lesson aside, now that the US has restored diplomatic ties with its old foe, there is talk of honoring 50-year-old legal claims relating to the newest confiscation of property, and Lansky’s heirs believe they will have a claim on the Riviera.

Gary Rapoport, a industrial propane salesman from Florida and Lansky’s grandson, says that his mother, his uncle and he, as beneficiaries of Lansky’s trust, should be eligible for some type of compensation.

‘The hotel was taken from my grandfather forcefully,’ he told NBC Miami. ‘Cuba owes my children money.’

‘Trust me,’ he proceeded, ‘I’m perhaps not looking to go down to Cuba and take over the business. I believe my children is entitled to something.

‘ We never filed a claim with the federal government or hired an attorney earlier because we don’t think the doorway for negotiating would ever really open. Now it is open’

‘ Governments change their mind on a complete lot of various things. I’m looking he added at it as a businessman.

Did Lansky Die Broke?

Meyer Lansky, dubbed the Mob’s accountant, had been a teenage friend of Bugsy Siegel and Charles ‘Lucky’ Luciano that would later become the head of the Genovese Crime Family. He began their career, with Siegel, running a violent bootlegging operation during Prohibition, but eventually developed a gambling empire that stretched across the world.

Despite a lifelong career in organized crime, he was never ever convicted of anything worse than unlawful gambling.

Lansky invested hugely in Cuba, and he was cost by the revolution millions. He was ostensibly broke, although the FBI believed he had squirreled away some $300 million into offshore bank accounts when he died, in 1983 of lung cancer, aged 80.

It is unclear whether his family does have claim in the Riviera. The revolutionaries of 1959 were furious with the corruption of the Batista government and particularly because of the real way the dictator had sold off land and assets towards the United states Mafia.

Court Bars DraftKings and FanDuel from Operating in New York

Justice Manuel Mendez, who sided with brand New York Attorney General Schneiderman and granted an injunction against DraftKings and FanDuel today. (Image: uptowncollective.com)

DraftKings and FanDuel have actually experienced a blow that is huge their appropriate battle to continue to operate in hawaii of New York.

A judge granted the injunction sought by the New York Attorney General’s Office that prevents the operators from taking bets from New Yorkers for the duration of the case today.

FanDuel agreed to suspend its operations in the continuing state until the outcome of today’s hearing, while DraftKings had defiantly continued to simply take bets, but must now stop to achieve this.

While this might be not the end of the lawsuit between the daily fantasy sports operators and New York, the indications are ominous for the sites; the court would be not likely to grant the injunction without strongly favoring the position of the attorney general.

Legal Skirmishes

The litigation escalated in mid-November when AG Eric Schneiderman wrote cease and desist letters to the two sites informing them that their operations constituted ‘illegal gambling’ under New York law.

While New York’s DFS fans protested regarding the streets, both sites launched legal action against the AG’s office in an effort to challenge the opinion and protect their business into the state.

They also launched an unsuccessful request for a short-term restraining order to stop Schneiderman from issuing the injunction that was issued today.

Solicitors for web sites spent several hours at a New York Assembly hearing on DFS on Tuesday arguing that the practice was a game of skill and that transparency and player protection were paramount to your industry.

‘ We want to work with you to ensure that fantasy competitions are appropriate, safe for customers, and continue to deliver the great entertainment value that has driven our growth over the previous few years,’ FanDuel’s counsel for policy and government affairs Cory Fox told put together lawmakers in Albany.

‘ We believe that the path that is best forward for the dream sports industry would be to craft regulatory solutions that will allow the millions of users who love dream sports to play.’

Something of Value

But today in court the simple concern that Justice Manuel Mendez was necessary to answer had been whether setting a DFS line-up is really a skill or a wager. It is, he answered, the latter.

Web sites’ lawyers had argued that simply because they were not taking ‘wagers’ but entry fees DFS could not be viewed as gambling under state law, an argument that Mendez dismissed.

‘New York State law that is penal not refer to ‘wagering’ or ‘betting,’ rather it states that a person, ‘risks one thing of value,» he said. ‘The payment of a ‘entry fee’ as high as $10,600 on one or more contests daily could be deemed risking certainly ‘something of value.»